Some other athletes and coaches who have made their mark in northeastern S.D. since 1984

Editor's Note: Sports writer Roger Merriam is compiling a "20 Favorites" series highlighting some of his favorite athletes in a variety of high school sports since he started working at the Watertown Public Opinion in December 1984. The series is about northeastern South Dakota athletes, but some played at colleges all over the state and others have moved to other areas.

This is the 16th story in Roger Merriam's "20 Favorites" series on some of the top athletes in northeastern South Dakota through all of his years at the Watertown Public Opinion.

That includes his "30 Favorites" coaches special that came out Thanksgiving. This story is taking a look at some of the athletes and coaches we may have missed or at least overlooked in the previous stories.

Don't worry there's more to come in the series. Plans call for area boys and girls track, Watertown boys and girls track, area gymnastics, Watertown gymnastics, area boys golf, area girls golf, Watertown girls golf, Watertown boys golf, Watertown soccer and Great Plains Lutheran for sure. I haven't officially decided which story or two I'll tackle next, but keep following.

Let's begin forgiveness time for me.

20. Matt & Judy Kranz, plus additional photos

A special note goes out to Matt and Judy Kranz, the parents of the No. 1 Arrow football player (the late Marty Kranz).

I mistakenly referred to Matt as Myron in the print edition of that story. It wasn't as if I didn't know their names. I just let me fingers do the wrong talking.

The print edition doesn't include all the photos for this story that are posted on an online gallery. There are five photos in the gallery not of people who I've missed, but just interesting photos I've wanted to mention.

One photo has Watertown's Jaime Berry, our No. 1 girls basketball player for the Arrows, guarding Becky Hammon of Rapid City Stevens in a state tournament game in the 1990s. Yes, that Becky Hammon. The one who played in the Olympics for Russia, became a women's assistant coach in the NBA and is now a head coach in the WNBA.

Another photo is of former Milbank standout Kalen DeBoer. He's the one getting ready to coach the University of Washington football team in the College Football Playoff semifinals. DeBoer was in the "20 Favorites" area football story, but I couldn't find a high school action photo of him. At least not for football. I found one of I took of him playing basketball for the Bulldogs.

Another photo is of Jacob Arthur of Clark, who also made the area football story. I found the photo after the story was published so I've included it in this gallery.

19. Casey Sichmeller

Only two wrestlers in South Dakota history (Logan Storley of Webster and Kirk Wallman of Freeman) have captured six state Class B individual championships in their career and Sichmeller, a former Webster Bearcat, is the reason that the total isn't three.

Sichmeller was a freshman in 1993 when he stopped Hisek's bid for a title as a seventh-grader with a 12-6 victory in the 103-pound championship.

18. Eric Lappe

Dale Schultz coached Wilmot's boys basketball teams from 1977 through 2006 and won more than 380 before being replaced by Lappe, who coached at Wilmot from 2000-2012 (first the girls, then the boys).

For those who don't remember, Lappe created a "Hoosiers" phenomenon back in 1992 when he led Harrold, the smallest school in the state, to the state B boys basketball title. He scored 40 points in an 84-70 win over No. 1-ranked and previously-unbeaten Warner.

17. Renae Osthus, Michele Lick and Chynna Stevens

The "20 Favorites" area girls basketball list was pretty solid, but here are three others who could have or should have been included.

Osthus, the sister of former De Smet boys standout and state-champion girls basketball coach Doug Osthus, was a good player in her own right who later was a junior guard on the 1993-94 Northern State University team that went 32-1 and won the NCAA Division II championship.

Lick starred Rosholt High School and also starred at Northern State, serving a co-captain for the 1992 NAIA national champions and the 1992 NAIA national runner-up team. She also competed in track for the Wolves and was inducted into the NSU Hall of Fame in 2004.

When you're doing research projects like this, you're often worried about remembering the past and forgot about the present or years close to that. That brings me to Stevens, who was a three-time Class A All-State player for Clark-Willow Lake who also played at South Dakota State.

16. Brittani Janssen and Ashley Holiday

Janssen played girls basketball at De Smet and Holiday at Hamlin before heading to Augustana University in Sioux Falls. Janssen was inducted into the Augie Hall of Fame in 2016 and Holiday in 2019.

As a side note: Holiday married Watertown's Brent Fjeldheim, part of a family of quarterbacks who were listed in the "20 Favorites" story for Watertown football.

15a. Travis Young

Travis' father got all the love for being Mr. Softball in the "30 Favorites' coaches story, but Travis actually coached Watertown's club fastpitch team twice, including a few years before his dad took over.

Travis also played fastpitch for many years and continues to umpire the game today. He also played some hockey for the Watertown Lakers and also did some coaching in that sport.

One Young isn't enough.

15b. Matt Paulson

If I ever get around to writing a "20 Favorites" on the top VFW baseball players in the area, Matt would probably leap to No. 1. He was the ace pitcher for a Milbank team and twice defeated the heavily-favorite Watertown Red Sox in a region tournament held in Watertown to qualify for state.

Matt's brother Mike made the area boys basketball story and their sister Kelsey the area volleyball story. I even forgot to mention Matt along with most of the Watertown Post 17 American Legion baseball coaches I listed in my "30 Favorites" coaches story.

Matt also coached football at Hamlin and as an assistant in Watertown. For once, he's getting some credit.

14. Jeff Denzer

Jeff Denzer spent a lot of years coaching t-ball and other youth sports with the Watertown Park and Rec as well as youth softball and I don't believe there's anyone you could have found who did a better job with younger kids. He had a great personality and was focused on making the activity fun for kids. He also was an assistant coach on Watertown High School's first championship volleyball team in 1996-97 and took over for Beth Schutt as the team's head coach the following season. He stayed at the position only one year.

Jeff, who passed away in 2021, and I had a lot of discussions about that year and how some perceived his coaching philosophy.

This is my opinion, he wanted to play more girls but that was tough in volleyball with a limited amount of rotations (subs) you're allowed each set and there was a different mentality from the public 26 years ago. Now there's no doubt coaches today (basketball and even football for sure) play more kids as a means of keeping everybody (kids, parents, etc.) happy. In my mind, Jeff's ideas were maybe a little ahead of his time.

13. Laura Stobbs and Willow Lake's girls

There were some Willow Lake girls (Lisa Kannegieter and the Englert sisters) named in the "20 Favorites' area girls basketball story but I forgot to also mention coaches Doug Meyer and Butch Brenden in the "30 Favorites" coaches story.

Anyway, the Pirates made nine trips to the state B from 1988 to 2005 and finished third once and second each of the final seven times they made it to stake. Stobbs was a key point guard on Willow Lake's first state runner-up team in 1991.

12. John Yonker, Hamlin Wrestling

In my "20 Favorites" area wrestling story, I listed Jeff Kruse of Hamlin as winning a state B title in 1987. I said he may have been Hamlin's only state champion.

Wrong. I believe the correct answer is two. Yonker won the 155-pound title the following year in 1988.

More: Links to the stories highlighting the best northeastern South Dakota athletes since 1984

11. Scott Hagen, Chris Lund and Ron Jensen

Here's three more coaches I could as well mentioned in my "30 Favorites" coaches story.

Hagen, a Sisseton native, came back home to coach Sisseton's football team. He led the Redmen to a stunning upset over Class 11A power West Central in the first-round of 2009 playoffs and eventually ended up at Rapid City Stevens. If my memory is correct, he started coaching in high school in New Mexico and one of his players was former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher.

Lund, a Grant-Deuel graduate who played football and wrestling at Northern State, had a good amount of success as coach in both sports at Doland before eventually landing as an administrator in Arlington. A very nice guy who passed away from cancer in 2017.

Jensen coached South Shore's girls basketball teams in the 1980s and had a number of children who had athletic success for the Comets and later for the Waverly-South Shore co-op.

10. Doreen Dirksen, Lake Preston

The only state B volleyball appearances for Lake Preston's volleyball teams came from 1985-2004 (eight times). I don't believe Dirksen was the Divers' coach when they made their first trip in 1985, but I think she was the next seven times.

She compiled a 354-201 record in 18 seasons for the Divers and was inducted into the South Dakota Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2020.

9. Jeanne Sinclair

I missed the boat on Sinclair, also, in my "30 Favorites" coaches story. She coached Milbank's gymnastics team for 37 years before stepping away in 2015.

The sport was sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association and Sinclair, a Sisseton native, took over Milbank's program in 1978.

More: Love of the sport

9. Adam Sullivan, Keith Muhl and Donnie Meyer

I didn't really mention any Watertown Lakers' hockey coach in my "30 Favorites" coaches story. There's a couple of reasons for that. The Laker teams have had a number of coaches through the years.

Another reasons is that the South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association has no doubt one of the web sites for any sport in South Dakota.

We often never had to deal with hockey coaches on a regular basis, because the results have been available online for two decades or more. Sullivan coaches the Laker boys for number of years and Muhl had success with Watertown's girls. Meyer's been involved in a ton of Watertown sports through the years and also coached the Laker girls.

8. The Pickrels

In the "20 Favorites" Watertown boys cross country story that came out last week, I mentioned Terry Hoffman as being a long-time sports writer with the Public Opinion sports staff and mentioned his oldest kids and their participation with Arrow athletic teams.

I should also mention Steve Pickrel and his kids (Amber, Kory and Dustin) who were all pretty talented Arrow athletes. Steve also spent many years as a part-time sports writer with the P.O.

7. Aaron Pickrel

Aaron's father is Randy, Steve's brother, so he's related to the Pickrels mentioned above but as a cousin not as a brother. Some body had mentioned on social media that Aaron really likely deserved to make the "20 Favorites' story for Arrow wrestling.

Technically, Aaron didn't win a state championship but was a five-time state place winner, an All-American and won 150 matches in his career.

Not to mention, he was also a very good baseball player and held his own on the football field. He's now back in Watertown as a doctor.

You know what they say Aaron. Better late than never for you to get your due.

5. Joe and Pete Boerma

Shortly after releasing the "20 Favorites" Watertown football story in July, I asked current Watertown head coach John Hodorff if I had missed anybody. Without hesitation, he said Joe and Pete Boerma.

The Boerma brothers were big linemen who made their presence felt and both later played at Carleton College in Minnesota. Joe was listed at 6-foot-5 and 335 pounds for Carleton in 2008 and Pete at 6-4, 285 for Carleton in 2014.

4. Tiara Gibson, Deuel volleyball

When I compiled my list, I leaned heavily on my memory, All-State players and state championship teams. That kind of leaves some players who were better in college out. One of those I forgot was Gibson.

She played a couple of years in college for South Dakota State University before ending up at Louisiana State (LSU) as a 6-foot-3 middle blocker. I even did a story on her journey. That's why she's on this list.

More: Clear Lake's Gibson feels right at home on LSU volleyball team

3. Lynn Gudmundson and Caitlin Steffensen

Shame on me and to think I had just talked to Lynn at a Deuel High School football game only a few weeks before I released my "30 Favorites" coaches story around Thanksgiving.

Lynn arrived in Clear Lake as a football coach and spent more than 30 years in that capacity while also coaching a number of other sports with the Cardinals. He helped build Deuel's gymnastics program from the ground up and led the Cardinals to state Class A titles in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The 2011 title stopped Madison's streak of 16 straight titles.

Steffensen, a former Watertown standout gymnast, took over the program in the 2017-18 seasons and led the Cardinasl to four-straight titles (2018-2021).

2. Kraig Ulveling

Again, I put in the online version of my "30 Favorites" coaching story that I didn't include "Big Red" on the list because I think I may have only interviewed him for a story one time. J.T. Fey, my old boss, covered boys basketball and boys tennis when Kraig coached.

Everybody will tell you he put Watertown's boys basketball program back on the map in the early 1990s and even led the Arrows to the 1992 state title, the Arrows' first championship since 1959. He also led Watertown's boys tennis team to its first two state titles in 1992 and 1993.

He was a motivator. I was covering the Watertown School Board meeting when the board took a break in executive session to interview Ulveling for the head boys basketball position. The door was open and I heard a lot. After the break, I walked back into the room and all the board members were speechless. "Big Red" sign me up, I'll buy the land you're selling in Florida. A lot of Arrow athletes also bought in and history was made.

1. Amy Nawroth, South Shore

I kicked off the series in late June with the "20 Favorites" area girls basketball story and had a picture of Amy from her days as a member of the 1986 South Shore girls basketball team that made it to the State B tournament. I put her photo in the gallery.

In the story, I talked about South Shore's Jensen sisters (children of coach Ron mentioned previously in this story). Traci played in 1986 and younger sisters Jaci and Sara helped lead Waverly-South Shore to a 25-0 season and a state B title in 2000.

I meant to add Amy to the section, but didn't. I realized it was too late for print and pulled her photo from the gallery. She could play. In the Region 1B championship in 1986 (yes I was at that game), Nawroth suffered a sprained ankle late but still managed to score 18 points in the Comets' 51-47 overtime win over Rosholt that punched their ticket to state.

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: "20 Favorites" series continues with recognition for other players, coaches