Ask Yianna Nadeau what she brings to the Dickinson State women’s basketball team and her answers have little to do with the traditional aspects of the game.
“Energy, intensity, a positive attitude,” she says without skipping a beat.
Yes, the 5-foot-10 senior forward from Portland, Ore., can shoot the ball and is one of DSU’s best defenders.
But Nadeau’s greatest attribute, players and coaches agree, is the way she can lead the team through her actions and words.
Janae Moore, shown on Nov. 26, 2011, drives to the basket.
Janae Moore is trying to set a standard.
The Dickinson State sophomore has the attitude and demeanor of an upperclassman — of which there aren’t many on the Blue Hawks’ roster — and all season she has played like one too.
“That’s what makes me most excited is if she just stayed where she is right now, she’s a great player,” DSU first-year head coach Caleb Harrison said. “We’ll get to the end of the season and her numbers are going to go up and she’s going to be playing at an even higher level.”
Moore, a 5-foot-11 forward from Sidney, Mont., leads the Blue Hawks in just about every major category coaches expect a frontcourt starter to lead — and even some they wouldn’t.
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.”
Courtesy Photo by Annika Plummer A floragraph in the likeness of Tyler Plummer, a longtime supporter and volunteer for the Dickinson State wrestling team, stands on a table at the Lions Eye Bank in Bismarck on Dec. 18. The floragraph will appear on the Donate Life America float during the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year’s Day. Plummer died Jan. 25 of a heart condition. His corneas were donated to two people after his death.
Tyler Plummer was one of those people who was easy to like.
“He was someone who it didn’t matter if you knew him for a little bit of time or a lot of time, he made an impact and people just loved him,” said Annika Plummer, his wife.
Plummer continues to make an impact in people’s lives, almost a year after his untimely death.
The Dickinson State graduate and passionate supporter of the Blue Hawk wrestling team died on Jan. 25 at age 33. The Baker, Mont., native had battled cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease, since he was diagnosed with a heart infection as a 19-year-old DSU freshman.
In addition to being an avid wrestling fan and a cowboy whose claim to fame was his role as a stunt horse rider in the North Dakota-filmed movie “Wooly Boys,” Plummer was also an organ donor.
After his death, Plummer’s corneas were donated to the Lions Eye Bank of North Dakota. Today, there are two people whom Plummer’s family does not know who can see again because of his gift.
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.
Dustin Monke 