A pair of Madison standouts highlighted the South Dakota High School Coaches Association Class A all-state basketball team. Tony Fiegen and Chad White led their squad to the state championship this season.
The rest of the first team includes Platte-Geddes' Keith Cutler, Parkston's David Maxwell and Sioux Valley's Ben Miller.
It’s the second first-team honor for Fiegen, who was also named the state A player of the year with a 17 point-per-game scoring average, along with seven rebounds a game.
White complimented Fiegen with a 17.2 point-per-game scoring average, 5.5 rebounds and over four assists a contest.
Madison defeated Platte-Geddes for the state championship this spring, after losing to P-G in the previous year’s final. Cutler led this year’s P-G squad with a 16.8 points per game average. He’s also a returning all-state performer.
Coaches Association honors girls coaches
The South Dakota High School Coaches Association has named its state girls basketball and girls gymnastics coaches of the year. Both are from Class AA Watertown.
Pat McClemans received the girls basketball coach of the year award. McClemans led the Arrows to their second Class AA championship in March.
It was Watertown’s second title in the past three straight years.
Melissa Van Gilder earned the girls gymnastics coach of year award, after her team won the Eastern South Dakota Conference, Region 1-AA, and state Class AA titles, all in one season.
Van Gilder shares head coaching duties at Watertown with Vicky Bull.
Huron coach drops football, keeps basketball
Huron High School coach Tim Buddenhagen says he’s resigning from his post as head varsity football coach, but will keep the head boys basketball coaching position he’s had for eight seasons.
Buddenhagen has been the Tigers’ football coach in addition to the basketball job for the past two seasons. Despite a less-than-impressive 2-17 mark in those two seasons, the Tigers’ two wins this past fall broke a 44-game losing streak for the ESD Conference school.
The two victories also put the Tigers in the 11-AA postseason last fall for the first time in several years.
Buddenhagen said the time needed for coach both programs at the state’s large school level came at the expense of his family time.
Tennis: Yankton’s Kachena to play at Augustana
The tennis talents of Yankton senior Gabbie Kachena will be heading to Sioux Falls next season. Kachena has signed a national letter of intent to play at Augustana, choosing the NCAA Division II school over two nearby NAIA schools.
Kachena admitted she had been agonizing over the decision for seven months.
Knowing the Vikings’ coach might have helped in the decision. Kachena took private lessons two years ago from Augustana coach Marc Kurtz at a fitness club in Sioux Falls and watched her play in Rapid City last fall during the state tournament.
Gabbie was the Gazelles’ No. 1 singles player when Yankton finished fifth at that meet.
She has been playing varsity tennis since she was in eighth grade. She’ll be seeking a nursing degree while she continues her career at the new Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference school.
Baseball: New pitch count for prep teams
The South Dakota High School Baseball Coaches Association has implemented new rules for its teams, limiting the number of pitches thrown by a pitcher.
The SDHSBCA governs the sport, which is not sanctioned by the state high school activities association.
Under the new rule, a pitcher may throw no more than 106 pitches in any one day, except to finish the current hitter, and he may not return to the mound if he reached 89 pitches by the end of the previous inning.
Pitchers are also not allowed to pitch more than 212 pitches in a seven-day period.
The rule also states that one day of rest is required for an outing that includes between 27 and 44 pitches, two days of rest are required for outings between 45 and 61 pitches and three days of rest are required for outings between 62 and 88 pitches
Any pitcher that throws 89 or more pitches must get a full four days rest.
The new policy applies only to high school games. American Legion teams will still be governed by a rule that limits the number of innings pitched.
