They are scheduled to host the regionals in July 2014 at their home site at the gravel pit lake at 3301 U.S. South Highway 281, about 2½ miles south of the Marlin's/Shell Gas Stop corner. That is from our friend, former American News teammate and long-time water ski team volunteer Adam Heyd.
Adam said there will be about 11 teams with about 60 to 70 members per team from South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.
That definitely will be a big event for Aberdeen and the team. According to their Aqua Addicts Web site, the team is scheduled to open its season at 7 p.m. June 13 at the local Dahme Lake.
Here are some other things I know:
Good example
Some of my most important, behind-the-scenes teammates at the American News are our copy editing staff.
They are the last line of defense to catch mistakes before the newspaper goes to press each night. Recently, the three that split up editing/designing our sports pages on a weekly basis have really shined.
Teammate Joe Johnson recently led us through our state track meet coverage, writing headlines, editing a lot of stories on deadline and making decisions on what pictures to use. It is a busy few days to be sure with a lot of deadline pressures. Joe did a great job as our sports pages looked great throughout.
Earlier this week, we had a special story on the retirement of Roncalli athletic director Tom Murphy, who had been with the Aberdeen school for 41 years. Michelle Sihrer pulled off a great design that was worthy of the specialness of the story.
Finally, Hillary Beyer stepped in to design the Mike Miller photo/graphic that ran in Thursday's newspaper. It took a lot of work, but the end result was outstanding.
Thanks to my copy editing teammates for sharing their talents with all of us and elevating the look of the newspaper in creative ways.
Bad example
For the first time in a long time, I forgot to vote Tuesday. I feel horrible about that, especially since I have written many editorials over the years urging people to vote. Shame on me for letting a great privilege slip through my fingers.
Social media gold
Our good friend and sports editor of the Yankton Press & Dakotan, James D. Cimburek, struck social media gold Thursday night when he posted a sports question on Facebook.
Two 2008 Yankton High School graduates, South Dakota State pitcher Layne Somsen and Colorado State post Colton Iverson, are possible professional draft picks.
The Major League Baseball draft started at 6 p.m. last night with the first two rounds. Rounds 3-10 are today and 11-40 on Saturday. The NBA drafts two rounds June 27, and Iverson's name is being bantered around as is SDSU senior Nate Wolters.
Anyway, Cimburek asked: When the last time two athletes from the same South Dakota high school graduating class were drafted into pro leagues in the same calendar year in different sports?
Some of the responses:
- Parkston High School 2008 graduate Riley Reiff (Iowa) was a first-round selection in the 2012 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. His Parkston classmate, Kelli Fiegen (South Dakota State) was not drafted, but recently signed to play professional volleyball in Switzerland.
- Rapid City Stevens 1995 graduates Becky Hammon (Colorado State) and Mark Ellis (University of Florida) both have had long, outstanding professional careers. Hammon, who went undrafted, plays for the San Antonio Silver Stars in the WNBA and Ellis for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ellis was a ninth-round selection by the Kansas City Royals in the 1999 MLB Draft.
- Rapid City Central 1994 graduates Ben Thomas and Nathan Barns were taken in the 1994 MLB Draft. Thomas went in the 27th round to Colorado and Barns in the 29th round to Boston. Both played for the famed Rapid City Post 22 team that won the 1993 American Legion World Series as did Ellis.
- Sioux Falls Lincoln 1972 graduates Keith Halgerson and Terry Dobratz were in the minor leagues that summer. Halgerson was taken in the 12th round by the Cincinnati Reds in the 1972 MLB Draft, while Dobratz went undrafted but was signed as a free agent.
- Rapid City Stevens 1989 graduates Tom "Duffy" Doyle and Eric Piatkowski were both drafted by professional leagues. Doyle (University of Minnesota) was selected by the Montreal Expos in the 20th round of the 1992 MLB Draft and Piatkowski (Nebraska) was selected by the Indiana Pacers in the first round (15th pick overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft.
While researching to verifying the above info, I also found three Northern State MLB draft picks: Deacon Burns (26th round by the Minnesota Twins in 2004), Cary Hornaman (32nd round by the Cincinnati Reds in 1978) and Vern Jark (13th round by the Chicago Cubs in 1976).
Quickly
The football game between South Dakota and Kansas will kick off at 6 p.m. Sept. 7 at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kan. Also, the 2010 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference softball player of the year, Kelsey Thompson of Mankato, is the new softball coach at the University of Sioux Falls.
John Papendick is the managing news-sports editor for the American News: jpapendick@aberdeennews.com.
Twitter: @jpapendick