Tag: Columns

Courageous coach: 22-year-old Hartman exceled in interim position for Blue Hawks

Dickinson State interim volleyball coach Jennifer Hartman, center, speaks with junior Linaya Schroeder during a game against Valley City State on Oct. 4 at Scott Gymnasium. Hartman, just 22 years old and still pursuing her education at DSU, was named the team’s interim head coach after head coach Maura Bronte resigned on Sept. 18

Perhaps no person in southwest North Dakota sports exhibited more courage than Jennifer Hartman did in the fall of 2012. The 22-year-old former Dickinson State volleyball standout was put in a position she had never expected less than a year after she completed her final season playing for the Blue Hawks.

On Sept. 18, the day of a road match against Jamestown College, Hartman was named DSU’s interim head volleyball coach following the resignation of second-year head coach Maura Bronte.

“I was surprised,” said Hartman, who is still a student and was in her first season as an assistant coach. “That’s the best word. I went into a little bit of a shock state.”

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Night Hawks avoid tragedy, soldier on despite injuries to key players

Of the millions of bus trips taken every year by schools around the country for extracurricular activities, few were as scary as the one the Hettinger-Scranton boys basketball team took on Jan. 13. That afternoon, on their way to play a basketball game against Dickinson Trinity, the team’s chartered bus went off the road when it hit an ice patch attempting to negotiate a curve widely regarded as dangerous along the border of Slope and Hettinger counties three west of New England. Icy road conditions, which were ruled the reason for the accident, caused the bus to go off the road.

After it went off the road and into the ditch the bus came upon an adjacent north-south gravel road, which had a steep incline. The bus hit it hard and launched into the air, rolling onto the driver’s side, which slowed it down to an eventual stop.

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Dufault went from the Big Dance to the Czech Republic

AP Photo
Colorado’s Austin Dufault, left, runs down the court after making a basket during the semifinals of the Pac-12 conference championship in Los Angeles on March 9. The Killdeer High School graduate had an exhilerating year, helping his team win the Pac-12 title, playing in the NCAA tournament and moving on to a professional career in Europe.

This has been a year of transition for Austin Dufault. In January, he was adjusting to a role as a featured player on the Colorado men’s basketball team. By March, he and the Buffaloes were dancin’ in the NCAA Tournament.
Today, he is at his parents’ home in Greeley, Colo., taking a five-day break from his newest job: professional basketball player for BK Prostejov in Prostejov, Czech Republic.

“A lot of changes have occurred in the last year that I’ve had to adjust to and I think I’ve handled them pretty well so far,” Dufault said Saturday during a phone interview.
An outstanding 2012 for the Killdeer High School graduate and former North Dakota Mr. Basketball puts him at No. 6 on The Dickinson Press’ sports stories of the year.

In June, Dufault was named one of three winners of the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association’s Dakota Award, an honor given to North Dakota natives who excel in sports outside of the state.
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Records, futility a rare combo for Blue Hawks

This sure was an interesting season for the Dickinson State football team. The Blue Hawks won just two games by a total of two points in 2012, their inaugural Frontier Conference season. Yet, head coach Hank Biesiot still managed to set a NAIA record for wins. (Though it’s a record in the eyes of some and not others, including the NAIA).

DSU finishing 2-9 — its second consecutive losing season and first time Biesiot has experienced back-to-back below-.500 years — in a season not without some historic moments is The Dickinson Press’ No. 8 sports story of 2012.

One great moment came Sept. 15 when the Blue Hawks beat Montana State-Northern 21-20 to help put Biesiot in a three-way tie for the NAIA’s coaching wins record.

On Oct. 13, Biesiot became the first football coach to win 257 games while coaching an NAIA school when the Blue Hawks got gutsy and scored a touchdown and went for the twopoint conversion with 14.6 seconds remaining to beat rival Jamestown College 8-7 in their lone nonconference game of the year.

Continue reading “Records, futility a rare combo for Blue Hawks”

DSU must learn from this season

There are two ways to remember the 2012 Dickinson State football season:

One is to forget about it and act like it never happened. The season is over. Bring on the next.

The second, and undoubtedly better, option is for it to be evoked as a lesson learned and as the season which helped the program take a step toward improving in every aspect.

Truth be told, the Blue Hawks’ 2-9 finish in their first season in the Frontier Conference wasn’t entirely unexpected. They came into the season picked to finish second-to-last by the league’s coaches and their projected fifth-string running back, senior Presley Straub, was thrust into a starting role before fall practice even began.

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