Year in review: It was a great year to be at Dawson-Boyd

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Dec. 30—It was a really fun year if your coach happened to be Cory Larson.

The long-time

coach led the Blackjacks to their first state championship in boys basketball and then finished off the school year with a state girls golf title.

And don't forget the Shadows of Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd, who won state dance team titles in high kick and jazz.

Meanwhile, the New London-Spicer girls cross-country team brought home a state championship for the first time since 2002.

Those fiver state championships, as well as almosts from

and

, along with area state champions in wrestling and track and field, are among numerous highlights of a memorable 2025 in the West Central Tribune area.

Here's a look:

The Blackjacks were primed for a state Class A championship after making the field for the first time since 1991. First, the second-seeded Blackjacks beat No. 7 Heritage Christian Academy 69-46 in the quarterfinals March 20 at Target Center in Minneapolis. Then came an 80-66 victory over the Red Lake County Rebels, the tournament's thrird seed, 80-46 on March 21 at Williams Arena.

Next was the championship against top-seeded Cherry.

The Blackjacks were led by the Twin Silos, 6-8 Brayson Boike and 6-7 Drew Heljmeland. Boike had 29 points and eight rebounds in the championship game. Hjemeland recorded 17 points, six asssits, five rebounds and two steals. Boike and Hjelmeland, who are now both teammates at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, made the all-tournament teams with junior guard Gunnar Liebl. Liebl had 20 points, three assists and two steals.

Also competing in the state tournament were the Montevideo Thunder Hawks in Class AA and the BOLD Warriors in Class A. Montevideo won the consolation championship. BOLD went 0-2 in its first state appearance.

The New London-Spicer girls cross-country team believed it was the top team in Class A. And the Wildcats were, winning the state title Nov. 1 at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights.

NLS needed a tiebreaker to beat St. Cloud Cathedral for the title. It came down to the sixth runner for each team. NLS' Sydney Peltier placed 107th to top Cathedral's Jayna Van Heel, who finished 112th.

"That's why we always tell our kids that every runner counts," said NLS head coach Disa Daucsavage, who agreed to dye her hair pink if the Wildcats won their first state championship since 2002.

NLS was led by Taylor Munsch, a senior who came out for cross-country for the first time, Kyla Vick, Hazel Vetsch, Stella Moline, Audrey Moline, Peltier and Mady Woelfel.

The LQPV/D-B girls finished 14th and the Litchfield boys placed eighth.

In Class AA, the Willmar boys made their first state meet since 2021 and placed 14th. Junior Zach Engstrom led the Cards by placing 33rd overall with a time of 16 minutes, 22.4 seconds.

Dawson-Boyd dominated the Class A girls golf tournament in Becker, shooting a two-day total of 669 at Pebble Creek Golf Course. That easily beat second-place Park Christian's 687. No one else was remotely close.

The Blackjacks were led by state champion Lindsey Lund, who shot rounds of 78 and 74 to finish with a two-day total of 152. The senior beat Border West senior Paige Beyer's 157. Finishing third was junior Brooke Brekke of Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, who shot a 161. Dawson-Boyd junior Alyssa Swedzinski was seventh with a 169 and Blackjacks freshman Kylar Hjemeland tied for 12th with a 173.

The Lac qui Parle Valley boys placed third with a two-day total of 661, shooting rounds of 334 and 327. Senior Carson Besonen led the Eagles with a two-day total of 150 after shooting rounds of 74 and 76 to tie for fourth place. Walker-Hackensack-Akeley won with a 613.

The Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd Shadows took first place in Class A high kick and first in jazz at the two-day state dance team championships at Target Center in Minneapolis. Right behind them in both divisions were the Yellow Medicine East Sihouettes.

"It's very surreal," said LQPV/D-B head coach Carly Wager last February. "I think we're still on Cloud Nine. It hasn't sunk in yet."

Making the all-tournament team for high kick were Addy Tufto and Reese Johnson from LQPV/D-B and Delaney Myers and Kiera Gibson-James from YME.

"It's so crazy," said YME head coach Chelsi Lindemann. "It's fun to be bringing first and second back to southwest Minnesota. We're very happy."

Also competing in the state dance team tournament were the Montevideo Gold Dusters and the New London-Spicer Blackcats.

The area saw three wrestlers crowned state champions, including Willmar's Conlan Carlson.

The senior 152-pounder posted a 50-1 record. He beat Woodbury's Brad Little by technical fall in the Class AAA championship. The match was stopped at 4 minutes, 34 seconds with Carlson leading 17-2.

Carlson, now wrestling at South Dakota State, joins his dad Chad and oldest brother Cael as state champions. Chad won for Willmar in 1989 and '90. Cael won in 2018 and '19.

"Me and Cael were hanging up our state championship banners as a family and he left a space just for me," Conlan said. "We have the hanger up and everything.

"Now, we just need the banner."

Willmar junior Cavin Carlson, a cousin, finished second at 139 in Class AA.

Trey Gunderson of Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg won the Class A 139-pound championship. The junior finished with a 43-0 record. Carson Gilbert took home the Class A 215-pound title. The senior went 39-0. According to his father, Mark Gunderson, Trey never gave up an offensive point this season and scored more bonus points than a decision in every match.

Gunderson also dominated in his title match. he beat Bo Zwiener of Westfield by technical fall in 4:34. He led 18-1 when it was called.

Gilbert won 6-5 over United North Central's Eli Roko in the final. Gilbert got a take-down with 20 seconds left.

"It got the job done," Gilbert said. "It's very exciting, very, very exciting. I'm hyped."

Paynesville's Jamison Meagher took second at 114 pounds in Class A, losing to Staples-Motley's Caden Kramer 3-1.

In case anyone was wondering, a No. 7 seed out of eight teams can play for a state championship. Ask the MACCRAY Wolverines.

The Wolverines scrapped their way to the Class A girls basketball title game by knocking off two higher-seeded teams in the state tournament in Minneapolis.

First, the Wolverines beat second-seeded Mayer Lutheran 55-51 in the quarterfinals March 13 at the Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis. Then, MACCRAY edged No. 3 Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 60-56 in the semifinals March 14 at Williams Arena. In the championship, MACCRAY fell to another Cinderella, West Central Area, 58-41. West Central Area had beaten top-seeded Goodhue 58-50 in the semifinals.

In the process, Brielle Janssen and Emma Thein earned Class A All-Tournament honors. Janssen, a 6-foot-1 junior guard/forward, scored 27 points and piled up 39 rebounds, 16 assists, six assists and three blocked shots in three tournament games. Thein, a 6-0 junior forward/center, finished with 28 points, 23 rebounds, six teals, four assists and two blockes in the state tournament.

And of course, the best part for MACCRAY is Janssen and Thein are back this year.

Also making a state tournament run were the Minnewaska Lakers. Minnewaska beat Sauk Centre 60-53 in the quarterfinals and in a match-up of West Central Conference opponents. The Lakers then lost to eventual state champion Providence Academy 88-43 in the semifinals and then 61-42 to Minnehaha Academy in the third-place game to finish fourth.

The MACCRAY/Renville County West girls 4x-800-meter relay team proved to be the best in Class A. The relay won the state title on June 11 at the state track and field championships in St. Michael.

The team of Sam Hultgren, Evangeline LeGare, Frida Barrera and Brielle Janssen finished with a time of 9 minutes, 9:38.20 seconds, cutting more than 10 seconds off their seed time coming into state.

"With a sixth seed, we had really had nothing to lose," Hultgren said.

In Class A shot put, Minnewaska junior Jayda Kolstoe took second with a toss of 41 feet, 7.75 inches. Kolstoe had won the state title as a sophomore, but lost in 2025 to La Crescent-Hokah's Brooklyn Mitchell, who had a toss of 42-7.5.

On the boys side, Minnewaska senior Owen Meulebroeck took second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 39.04. He was a state champion in 2024, when he ran a 39.86. Osakis' Andrew Jones won with a 37.39.

The Litchfield Dragons came oh-so-close to winning a state title, losing 4-3 to St. James in the state championship match in Minneapolis.

The fourth-seeded Dragons opened with a 6-1 victory in the quarterfinals over No.5 Pine City. Litchfield then upset top-seeded Breck 4-3 in the semifinals before succumbing to second-seeded St. James.

"We had to battle back from behind and everything had to go perfect for us," Dragons head coach Matt Draeger said in October. "Sometimes it's jsut hard to finish that last point and St. James just didn't allow us to do that."

Juniors Isla Dille and Molly Patten then wound up second in the state Class A doubles individual tournament a couple days later, losing to Breck's Abbey Perry and Addie Berman 7-5, 6-1.

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