Ryan Bozer:
Hey, good morning. Serving up fresh sports stories for Your Morning In Play I am SDPB's Ryan Bozer, and joining me after a couple of days at the tennis courts is our sports and recreation reporter, Nate Wek. Nate, how are you doing this morning, man?
Nate Wek:
I'm doing good, Ryan. How are you?
Ryan Bozer:
I'm doing all right. Tell me, how was tennis?
Nate Wek:
It was good. Early initial thoughts, Sioux Park has been completely renovated, and it's absolutely gorgeous what they've done out here in Rapid City with it. I saw what Sioux Falls did about a year ago with Tomar Park and I was like, "Wow, this is really cool. It's awesome that the kids are going to have this facility when they come out east," and now to see what Rapid has done, it's absolutely tremendous. You just know that the state tournaments now are going to rotate between those two, and it's absolutely fabulous the way that these facilities have really jumped up in really recent time. It's just absolutely gorgeous facilities.
Ryan Bozer:
Great spaces for both sides of the river, right?
Nate Wek:
Yeah.
Ryan Bozer:
Everybody's got something nice.
Nate Wek:
Yeah. Everybody's got something.
Ryan Bozer:
How was the actual matches and stuff?
Nate Wek:
It was really good. I think if you go to the beginning of the year and you start looking at boys tennis and class A, you probably thought it's probably going to come down to Rapid City Christian and Sioux Falls Christian. But again, it's sports, so you don't really know for sure. But it really was those two that really were just trading high moments throughout the tournament with each other. Sioux Falls Christian ended up winning by 12 and a half points in the overall team standings, which really isn't much. 540.5 points for Sioux Falls Christian, and then Rapid City Christian at 528 points, so neck and neck. No, it was great. Sioux Falls Christian took five of the nine flights. They took four of the singles flights. They won in doubles flight three. I think the most impressive part though about Sioux Falls Christian, they have sophomores, two freshmen and a seventh grader that make up their varsity roster.
Ryan Bozer:
Wow.
Nate Wek:
If you're going to ask like, "What does the future look like for Sioux Falls Christian boys' tennis?" I would say it looks pretty good.
Ryan Bozer:
It's secured for a bit. Yeah.
Nate Wek:
Yeah. When they went with the two class split in 2021, Sioux Falls Christian did win their first boys' tennis title when they went to the two-class system that year. I had interviewed their head coach, John Williams, at that time. It was also his first year head coaching at that time, so it was obviously a special moment for him. Fast-forward now to 2024, they finally get that second boys' tennis title. I had a chance to chat with him right after the awards ceremony and I said, "Both are all championship special, what makes this one different?" Here's what he had to say.
John Williams:
Each title's completely special in its own way. That year that we first won it, we had a bunch of seniors, and so it was my first year coaching, so that made it special. Then now this is a group of boys that I've gotten to have the opportunity to work with since they were seventh graders and now they're sophomores. It's great to just see them grow not only as tennis players, but just great young men.
Ryan Bozer:
To me that sounds like a proud coach moment of, "Here's all this work we've put in, here's this work to develop these skills, and look, it's paying off." Right?
Nate Wek:
Absolutely. If you notice what he said right there at the end too, it's fun for him to see not only these kids that he has been able to work with now these last four years grow into good tennis players, but also stand-up young men too. I think that's an important part of it as well, just because at the end of the day, yeah, you're playing for a state championship, but you still want to be seeing self-growth from your players as well. John Williams has that going on for his team in Sioux Falls Christian.
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah. It's that extra piece of sports of it's not just a game, you're also developing these skills that translate outside of the game. Your sportsmanship goes beyond just playing a sport.
Nate Wek:
Absolutely. There's way more to high school sports than just the stats and the banners that people hang in the gym. There's hard work, dedication, love, passion, people willing to volunteer so much time to kids. There's a lot of components that go into just one banner that's hanging in a gym.
Ryan Bozer:
Absolutely. Banner’s made up of many threads you could say.
Nate Wek:
Absolutely. That's a perfect way to say it there, Ryan.
Ryan Bozer:
What other sports stories do you have that you've been keeping your eye on, Nate?
Nate Wek:
A Beau Karst, a senior out of Harrisburg this week made a little history. Not a big deal, but hey, you know what? He's just became the state's all-time record holder in the pole vault for boys' prep.
Ryan Bozer:
Okay. Yeah.
Nate Wek:
Absolutely and incredible thing. We had a chance to talk with him yesterday too, and a really mature kid. He actually got into pole-vaulting because he was taking a math class and the math teacher was the pole-vaulting coach. He's like, "I got cut from the basketball team. Football wasn't working for me, so I just kept bugging my math teacher, 'Hey, can I try pole-vaulting?'" He's like, "I was 5'4, 110 pounds. No speck of an athletic ability," and he says, "First time I did a jump on pole vault, I knew that this is what I wanted to do." All of a sudden you look and now he's jumping 16.3, and he's the all-time state record holder for the event. It's absolutely incredible. Then the big announcement coming out of Sioux Falls this week too, Sioux Falls in 2025 in November I believe is going to be hosting the Olympic trials in men's women's curling, which that's fabulous as well. I think that's a really big deal.
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah.
Nate Wek:
Not one of those events that's like a concert type of thing, right?
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah.
Nate Wek:
But I think there's a lot of casual interest and sometimes really intense interest surrounding the Olympics, and I think it could maybe... It's the kind of event that might propel future opportunities. It has been since the '30s, since South Dakota has had any sort of Olympic trials. I believe 1932 with the Canton ski jump down in just south of Sioux Falls. People used to go by train at that time to do that. I think that's a really big deal too. Kind of a busy week, right?
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Are you winded yet?
Nate Wek:
Yeah. Well we got the double A boys' tennis, that'll be an interesting one too. Sioux Falls Lincoln going for their 10th straight Boys State Tennis Championship. Would've been 11th, but COVID canceled the one year.
Ryan Bozer:
Okay. Okay.
Nate Wek:
This would be their 10th straight if Sioux Falls Lincoln can get it done. We'll see what happens, and we'll talk about it next week.
Ryan Bozer:
I'm excited for it. Hopefully they can hit that 10 mark. Right? Double digits.
Nate Wek:
Yeah.
Ryan Bozer:
Awesome. Well, I will let you take a breather after your busy week, and we'll catch up again next week.
Nate Wek:
All right. I appreciate it, Ryan.
