West River Community Center hosts pickleball tourney
Apr. 9—DICKINSON — Another delightful Saturday at West River Community Center drew another abundant crowd of pickleball enthusiasts, as more than 50 people participated in the "Pickleball Brawl" tournament hosted on April 6, 2024, with the proceeds going to help the Benedictine Living Community in Dickinson.
The women's 3.5 division saw Abby Perez and Kristen Breakie take gold and Melissa Splechen teamed with Billie Sue Richter for silver, while Lia Bradley and Michelle Palmer earned the bronze.
For the men's 3.5 division, Ben Kaewpoka brought home the gold with teammate Hernando Perez, while Cale Gundlach and Tyson Krahe earned silver and Scott Lafond combined with Darren Snow to get the bronze.
In the 3.0 men's division, the gold winners were Chad Palmer and Shane Bradley, with Luke and Trey Hladkey coming in with the silver and Logan and Scott Karsky finishing with the bronze.
The women's 3.0 division ended with the gold for Kathryn Barrett and Terri Cote, with the silver going to Kimberly Dahl and Michelle Wilson, while Joetta Pearcy and Bailey Wilson won the bronze medals.
"It's good, people like the tournament and they like to do this," said Troy Boman, the tournament organizer and owner of Boman Tournament Productions, out of Grand Forks. "We've seen incredible growth; we run nine or 10 tournaments throughout the Dakotas and there's another one next week in Grand Forks, where there will be over 300 players."
He added, "Every year it's grown, and we've been doing tournaments for 10 or 11 years now."
Boman's wife, Linda, also was on-hand to help out, and she was operating an Excel-based, real-time computer program to give participants on-demand results as the tourney progressed.
"It automatically stack-ranks them once they're done with their last game," Mr. Boman said about his proprietary software.
Other winners included Chad and Michelle Palmer taking gold in the mixed 3.0 division, with Trey Hladky and Addie Treesh earning silver and Limberly Dahl teamed-up with Tyler Wilson for bronze. The 3.5 mixed-doubles saw the team of Kaewpoka and Breakie win gold and Hannah Pepich won silver with Lafond, while Krahe and DSU track standout Wrenzi Wrzesinski took home the bronze.
Cassie Visser, the Benedictine Living Community's foundation development director, said the event was a huge success, and the organization was able to purchase a new all-wheel-drive passenger van for Benedictine residents and tenants as a result.
"I've put on lots of fundraisers — and I've never seen pickleball played before and didn't have a clue what it was — but this was a great community event and we've had people from Williston and Minnesota and all over," she said. "It's a very-attractive sport for all varying ages; you can see it's young people to elderly and it appeals to so many people."
She added, "The goal is for us to do this every year. The first year you put on an event is the hardest and you've got to put in the most effort so people understand what you're doing, so hopefully the effort is worth it."
Sponsors for the tournament included BJ Kadrmas, Inc., Consolidated, the firm of Kubik, Bogner, Ridl & Sellinger, Ninetta Wandler of RE/MAX, Edward Jones and Marlene Bradbury, Scheels of Bismarck, the Benedictine Living Center, Floor-to-Ceiling Carpet One, Quality Quick Print, Ladbury Funeral Services and Ike & Teresa Heckler. More than $11,000 was raised from the Pickleball Brawl, which ended with an after-tournament event at Phat Fish Brewing Company that included a live and silent auction.
"A huge thanks also goes out to Dean Kluver Painting and Dakota SignWerks," Visser added.
For more information about West River Community Center, please keep reading The Dickinson Press and/or visit
https://westrivercommunitycenter.com/
. For information about Boman Tournament Productions, visit
.
