Month: November 2009

Story from this spring: 'Big-hitting Gemar has reached base more than any other Blue Hawk'

Around 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Dickinson Police Department announced the deaths of Kyrstin Gemar, Ashley Neufeld and Afton Williamson. You can read the story about it here.

I’m working on a sports-angled story for Wednesday’s newspaper, but for now, here is an article I wrote on Krystin Gemar that appeared on May 13 as a preview for the NAIA national tournament. Enjoy and remember this amazing young woman.

By Dustin Monke
Kyrstin Gemar just wanted to play a role on the Dickinson State softball team. The junior never expected to emerge as one of the team’s go-to hitters.
After the beginning the season in a pinch-hitter role, Gemar has batted her way into the team’s designated player role — softball’s equivalent of a designated hitter — and the clean-up hitter spot in the lineup.
She leads the Blue Hawks with a .516 batting average and a .622 on-base percentage as they enter the NAIA national tournament, which begins Thursday in Decatur, Ala.
“Good hitters are defined if they can get big hits in clutch situations and she has come up clutch every time we needed her,” DSU coach Guy Fridley said.
In fact, both times DSU was backed against a wall this season during the Dakota Athletic Conference regular season, Gemar was the player to provide a boost.
Gemar’s pinch-hit single in the bottom of the ninth inning drove in catcher Amanda Perrott for the game-winning run in DSU’s 9-8 win over Mayville State on March 28. Her two-run homer in the top of the seventh inning against Minot State on April 20 gave DSU a 4-3 victory.
Gemar attributes her improving batter’s eye for her ability to get big hits in big situations.
“I’m just seeing the ball a whole lot better this year,” Gemar said.
There’s no doubt about that.
She has hit seven home runs, driven in 32 RBI and struck out just three times.
“She’s going to put the ball in play and when she puts the ball in play, it’s going to be hit hard,” Fridley said. “You’re either going to get a single, or get a big game-opening home run.”
Gemar has been give DSU another weapon in an already loaded arsenal. Ranked third in the NAIA with a 36-3 record, DSU has hit 44 home runs this season and is outscoring its opponents 327-70.
“Everybody just keeps up with what they’ve been doing,” Gemar said. “We’ve got great team chemistry, great defense, amazing hitters on this team one through nine. There’s really nothing to it, we’ve just been hitting the ball.”
With her sudden emergence, it’s easy to forget that Gemar was a Blue Hawk last season.
The Grossmont, Calif., native arrived for the 2008 spring semester but sat out with a medical redshirt while she recovered from surgery that repaired a torn labrum in her left shoulder.
Blue Hawks junior outfielder Ashley Neufeld said Gemar’s mid-semester arrival, coupled with her injury, didn’t make her transition to DSU easy.
“Our team was already together. She came in hurt. She didn’t really isolate herself but kind of was isolated just because of being a redshirt and missing games and things like that,” Neufeld said. “This year, being a part of the team … I think that’s helped. She’s just been able to shine. Her true skills and true abilities have come out. She’s an amazing player.”
Gemar said her year off also gave her some perspective, which she believes helped her do everything she’s been able to this season.
“That year off kind of made me miss it a whole lot more,” Gemar said. “I just wanted to come out here and just play and it worked out.”
 

The worst day brings out the best in DSU

One of the biggest weekends in Dickinson State’s recent athletic history was followed by perhaps the darkest day in the school’s history.

After a Saturday where the Blue Hawk football team defeated rival Minot State 28-13 to wrap up a share of the Dakota Athletic Conference title and the 10th-ranked women’s basketball team upset No. 1-ranked defending national champion Morningside, the students at DSU awoke Monday to discover that three of their own had vanished without a trace.

Soon, rumors swirled. Text messages were sent. Facebook statuses were updated. Fear began to take hold.

Around noon, nearly everyone on DSU’s campus had learned that softball players Kyrstin Gemar, Ashley Neufeld and Afton Williamson had made a panicked phone call to a friend late Sunday night and hadn’t been heard from or seen them since. Before long, softball and baseball players were pulled from classes to help search for the women.

At a 3 p.m. press conference, law enforcement officials spoke about their search, their plans for more searches and pleaded with area residents to come forward with any information that might be helpful.

Students, friends, teachers and coaches sat on pins and needles the rest of the day. No new information came in.

When law enforcement and DSU officials quelled unorganized student search-party efforts, an alternative was raised — an impromptu prayer service at the DSU Student Center.

Little did I know that attending that prayer service would be the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do for my job.

I’ll be honest, I broke a cardinal rule of journalism. My unbiased journalistic opinion was pretty much gone. All I knew was that I, along with the hundreds of other people in that room, wanted these three girls, two of whom I have come to know well in my time as Sports Editor of The Dickinson Press, to come home safe.

I’ve known Ashley for about three years and Kyrstin since last spring. She was a freshman at DSU the first year I arrived at The Dickinson Press. I’ve interviewed her countless times. She’s worked at games for DSU’s athletic department and was quick to offer a helping hand if I needed anything. Ashley is most simply stated, a sweet person who never stops smiling.

I didn’t know Krystin until last softball season but got to know her father, Lenny, very well after he offered his photographic services to The Dickinson Press as he followed the softball team to the Tucson (Ariz.) Invitational and to the NAIA national tournament in Alabama. Kyrstin, known as "Beyonce" by her teammates, embodies the old Teddy Roosevelt adage of "speak softly, but carry a big stick." Gemar, while never the most colorful post-game interview, is one of the best pure hitters DSU’s softball team has ever had. She burst onto the scene last season after redshirting her first transfer year and hit 10 homers.

The prayer service was a surreal experience. I thought to myself more than once, "I hate this" or "I never thought my job would put me in this position."

Still, the prayer service brought out the best in everyone. Nearly every DSU student-athlete was there (quite a high percentage of the student body if you do the math), showing their respect, saying prayers or just offering a shoulder to cry on or a body to hold. Many of them with welled-up eyes, bloodshot red from prolonged crying. These moments showed how tight of a campus DSU is. I’m sure it’s exactly what you’ll be hearing if this story goes national (it’s already the lead on FoxNews.com).

I couldn’t help but offer a few hugs or supportive pats on the back to some people in the room, including one of whom is a lifelong friend. (Again a breach of the journalist’s code, but at that point, I really didn’t care.) 

I left the service begrudgingly. I would have rather stayed and talked with people, not for a story, but to see how they were doing. With a lump in my throat and watery eyes, I went back to work with some of the most touching photographs I’ve ever taken. 

As of midnight Tuesday, nothing new has been learned of this story. The search for the women was called off Monday evening.

Still, rumors circulated. Facebook was alive with updates, texts still bounced back and forth, and people still folded their hands and prayed that three friends and teammates would show up in the morning with the same smiles they saw on their faces the day before.