Seventy-one former area athletes competing this spring for college athletic teams in eight states

Seventy-one former area high school standouts are competing this spring for college athletic teams in at least eight states.

The athletes were listed on rosters published on web sites for colleges in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Florida, Texas and Tennessee. Please let us know if we’ve missed someone (email: sports@thepublicopinion.com) and we’ll add them to the list.

Here is the list of area athletes competing on the 2024 college teams this spring:

South Dakota

• South Dakota State — Pierre Lear of Brandon (Watertown High School grad), Jake Werner of Watertown, Tyler O’Neill of Clark and Carson Kirwan of Castlewood, men’s track and field; and Hadley Carlson of Arlington, women's track and field.

• South Dakota — Alayna Falak of Watertown, women’s track and field; and Bennett Schwenn of Milbank, men’s track and field.

• Augustana University — Nick Batchelor of Milbank, men’s track and field and Rachel Halverson of Madison (Minn.), women’s golf.

• Northern State — Ben Althoff of Watertown, baseball; Evan Halbe, Jesse Pietz of Watertown, Ricky Berndt of Brandt, Kaden St. Pierre of Hayti and Blake Stoks of Porter, Minn. (Canby High School), men’s track and field; and Emily Breske of Webster, Kamryn Schwartz of Volga, Vanessa Christensen of Rosholt, Danielle Hawley of Estelline and Avery Miles of Turton, women’s track and field.

• Sioux Falls — Avery Bartunek of Dawson (Minn.), Greta Snaza of Milbank, Sierra Stanton of Watertown, Mackenzie Everson of Castlewood and Kami Wadsworth of Hayti, women’s track and field; Collin Dingsor of Watertown, men's track and field; and Rhianna Cantine of Milbank, women's tennis.

• Black Hills State — Sully Mack of Watertown, men’s track and field.

• Dakota State — Dylen Milton of Volga, Hudson Fuller of Clark and Nicholai Arbach of Hayti, baseball; Nathan Ingalls and Caleb Roberts of Watertown, Xander Sheehan of Hayti, Grayson Madsen of Rosholt and Jack Hemmen of White, men’s track and field; and Jada Brown of Watertown, softball.

• Mount Marty — Tague Tvedt of Clear Lake, men's track and field; Jackson Noem of Lake Norden and Booker Schooley of Castlewood, baseball; Carson Pedersen (Hamlin High School graduate), men’s golf; and Kelsey Heath of Sisseton, women’s golf.

• Dakota Wesleyan — Cole Holden of Watertown, men's track and field; Kaylee Johnson of Hendricks, Minn. (Estelline-Hendricks athlete), women’s golf; Grace Ortmeier of Watertown, women’s softball; and and Tanley Goebel of Arlington, women’s track and field.

2023 Winter College Athletes: See the 81 athletes from northeastern South Dakota competing in winter college sports

North Dakota

• North Dakota State — Jacob Van Dusseldorp of Watertown, men’s track and field; Trinity Hodorff of Watertown, women’s track and field; and Parker Puetz of Volga, baseball.

• Jamestown — Tyler Dean of Watertown, men’s track and field.

• Valley City State — Mason Brehmer of Madison, Minn., men's track and field.

Minnesota

• Concordia-Moorhead — Anna Hacker of Madison (Minn.), women's tennis.

• Minnesota State Moorhead — Ayden Ochs of Rosholt, women’s track and field.

• Southwest Minnesota State — Jerod Cyrus of Watertown, baseball.

• Minnesota State Mankato — Jake Wagner of Gary, men’s golf.

• Minnesota Crookston — Delaney Lancaster of Watertown, Equestrian-Jumping Seat.

• Martin Luther — Great Plains Lutheran graduates Sam Hansen of Roscoe (men’s golf) and RJ Perry of Bruce and Martin Raasch of Sioux Falls (men’s track and field).

• Bethany Lutheran — Great Plains Lutheran graduate Chloe Kuhlman of Watertown, women’s track and field.

• Gustavus Adolphus  — Riley Zebroski of Watertown, women's golf.

• Minnesota Morris  — Kierra Silk of Sisseton, women's golf.

2023 Spring College Athletes: Here's a list of the area athletes who are members of college sports teams this spring

Nebraska

• Chadron State — Kayla Jordan of Clark, women's track and field.

• Midland — Maggie Heesch of Watertown, women's track and field; and Dominic Constant and Carter Hoffman of Clear Lake and Carter Trowbridge of Hayti, men's powerlifting.

Florida

• Florida — Gracelyn Leiseth of Hayti, women's track and field.

Texas

• Baylor — Cooper Mack of Watertown, men’s track and field.

Missouri

• Central Missouri — Myah Morris of Watertown, women’s track and field.

Tennessee

• Belmont — McKenna Prouty of Watertown, women’s track and field.

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: A list of former area high school standouts now competing in college