JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER Titus Roesler can pinpoint the day when the fire that fuels his drive to run was lit. It was May 16, 2019, and the Freeman Academy/Marion Bearcats were running in Gayville at the Region 5B Track Meet. One year earlier, in 2018 as a freshman, Roesler had run the 3200 at the State Track Meet, but on that day two years ago, he fell short of a return-trip when he finished third in the region competition.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER The last time Collin Helma competed on the track at O’Harra Stadium on the campus of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, he and his teammates returned to Freeman with the 2018 Class B championship trophy. There will be no such fortune for Helma and Company in Rapid City this weekend, but the Freeman High School graduate is hoping to return to his hometown with a few additional pieces of hardware to complete his collection from what has been an illustrious prep career.

For the first time in what is believed to be school history, the Menno High School girls are regional track and field champions — and they did it on their home turf.

Jenny Peters, a Freeman resident who played on a standout team at Tripp-Delmont in the late-1990s, has signed a contract to be the new head girls basketball coach at Freeman Public. Peters will replace Curtis Sage, who is retiring as a coach and teacher at the end of the school year. Chris Maske will remain on as the Flyers' assistant girls basketball coach.

The Freeman Public girls won the middle school division of the Cornbelt Conference Track meet at Freeman Thursday, May 13, scoring 179 team points — well in front of runner-up Hanson’s 127.5.

Morgan Edelman, Raygen Diede and Jesse Munkvold earned five gold medals to lead the Menno girls to third place in the 15-team field at the Flyers Invitational hosted by Freeman Public last week Thursday, April 22. Edelman won the 800 and the pole vault, Diede won the discus and the shot put while Munkvold was the champion in the 100 hurdles. Edelman’s height of 9-0 in the pole vault tied a Flyer Invitational meet record; the Menno senior holds that record with Hanson’s Brigitte Gross, who cleared 9-0 in 2009.

Freeman Academy/Marion’s distance runners carried the boys to a runner-up finish at the Flyer Invitational hosted by Freeman Public on a cool afternoon and evening last week. The Bearcats had three medalists in both the 1600 and 3200 and the 3200-meter relay finished second as FA/Marion scored 91 points at the April 22 meet — just six points behind winner Hanson.

Freeman High School finished sixth in both the boys and girls divisions at the 16-team Flyer Invitational hosted by Freeman Public last week Thursday, April 22. One of the highlights of the meet, held under cool and breezy conditions, was the 400-meter relay team of Evan Scharberg, Collin Helma, Tate Sorensen and Justin Wollman, which broke the meet record with a 45.76 clocking. The previous record of 45.77 was set by Howard in 2002. Helma also brought home three individual medals — wins in the 100 and 400 and second in the 200.

The Menno High School boys and girls both finished third among 14 varsity teams competing at the Menno Relays held at the Jon Woehl Athletic Complex Thursday, April 15. The boys finished with 67 points; Beresford was second with 81 and Hanson won the division with 131.5 points. The girls finished with 92.5 points; Beresford was second with 96 and Colman-Egan claimed the top spot with 98.5 points. The Freeman Academy/Marion boys finished in a tie for fourth while Freeman Public was ninth. The Freeman Public girls placed eighth while Freeman Academy/Marion was 10th.

Hansen Anderson Basketball has announced the 2021 Miss and Mr. Basketball finalists, which includes two area athletes — Menno’s Morgan Edelman and Canistota’s Tyce Ortman.