Red River's Kent Ripplinger, Cavalier's Landon Carter among NDAPSSA award winners
Jun. 30—GRAND FORKS — The Grand Forks Red River girls basketball program turned in an historic season during the 2022-23 school year.
The Roughriders, with a small, young lineup and a harassing defense, won a North Dakota Class A state championship for the first time since 1988.
That unique state championship run has been recognized in two ways by the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.
Red River girls basketball coach Kent Ripplinger was named the high school female coach of the year in North Dakota, while the Roughriders were named the high school female team of the year. Riders standout guard Jocelyn Schiller, a UND women's basketball prospect, was a finalist for the high school female athlete of the year, as well.
The Riders capped a 25-2 season with a state title by knocking off the state's top three ranked teams in the state tournament — beating defending champion Minot, West Fargo and Bismarck Century, the previous season's state runner-up.
Ripplinger, coming off a 19-7 season the year before, was honored by leading a Red River defense that limited opponents to under 43 points per game, the best mark in the state.
Cavalier's all-around athlete Landon Carter was named the high school boys athlete of the year. Carter competed in five sports.
He was named the 9-man football senior athlete of the year with 45 catches for 1,010 yards and 10 touchdowns to go along with nine interceptions on defense. He broke Cavalier's all-time receptions record and career yards record.
Competing in hockey for Grafton-Park River, Carter led the state with 30 goals and 16 assists for 46 points, which ranked seventh in points. He also played basketball in the winter for Cavalier, baseball for Pembina County and golf for Cavalier.
Payton Hochhalter of Jamestown, Tyson Enget of Powers Lake and Jeremiah Sem of Fargo North were also finalists.
The Thompson baseball team was named the high school male team of the year following a second-consecutive Class B title.
Thompson went 22-3 and allowed only two runs in three state tournament victories — beating Minot Ryan 11-1, Central Cass 2-1 and LaMoure-Litchville-Marion 9-0 in the state championship game. The Tommies have won seven consecutive region titles.
Central Cass basketball and Fargo Shanley football were the other finalists.
New Rockford-Sheyenne's Kelsie Belquist, the sister of UND wide receiver Bo Belquist, was named the high school female athlete of the year.
In a little more than three hours, Belquist scored 40 points for the Rockets at the state track meet.
She broke her own state record in the 300 hurdles, finishing in 41.48 seconds to start the day.
She capped the season off by winning three consecutive events — running the 400 in 56.56, the 100 hurdles in 14.36 (just 0.03 seconds over Whitney Carlson's state record of 14.33 in 2005) and finished up with a new overall record in the 200 (23.94). She broke her own overall record set in the prelims the day before.
Belquist also earned all-state honors in volleyball and all-region recognition in basketball for the Rockets.
Schiller and Logan Nissley of Century were also finalists.
Fargo North boys basketball coach Travis Hoeg was named high school male coach of the year. North won a state title in 2023, beating Bismarck Legacy 82-80, Bismarck Century 51-48 and Grand Forks Red River 92-83 in the title game.
Larry Sandy of Velva football, Nate Soulis of Thompson baseball and Troy Mattern of Fargo Shanley football were also finalists.
