The Custer High School cross country team faced 100 degree heat and high winds at the Douglas Invitational last week. The conditions created difficult conditions for the runners, some of whom had never run in a cross country meet before.

Cody Herman was Custer’s sole competitor in the boys varsity race, finishing fifth against strong competition. Three girls ran in the varsity race. Caitlyn Bagley earned a medal with 13th place, while Victoria Dahlstrom placed 20th and Karley Konkol placed 26th.

The Custer High School Volleyball team tasted its first competition last week at the Custer invitational volleyball tournament, playing six games in two days.

On the first day of competition, Custer defeated Rapid City Christian, 25-9 and 25-13. The girls then lost to Red Cloud in two games, 25-20 and 25-22. In the final match of the day, Custer defeated Pine Ridge in three games, 25-28, 27-25 and 25-11.

The Custer Wildcat soccer team won a pair of no-doubter soccer games last week, defeating St. Thomas More 5-3 last Thursday night before drubbing Freeman Academy 7-3 Saturday afternoon at home.

Against More, the Wildcats started flat on a hot day and fell behind early when More’s Landon Kedrna came on a diagonal run in the fourth minute, beating the Custer defense and Wildcat goalie Tanner Eiesland to score.

Bouyed by two wins in two different events last week, the Custer High School golf team had head coach Paul Kelley singing its praises last weekend.

“I was pleased with how the boys performed as a team.  It gave us an opportunity to see how we compete with a couple of teams in our conference and region,” he said. “Chad (Bryant) and Cody McLaughlin did a great job setting the tone fo

Even though Custer High School head football coach Russ Bailey is entering into his fourth year as the man in charge of the Wildcat program, this is a season of firsts for his tenure in Custer.

For the first time in his four years he returns the vast majority of his players from the previous season. For the first time, he is a little more concerned about the depth on the team at the skill positions. And, perhaps the most bizarre first, is that he believes offensive line play w

Last year, in Newcastle, Luke Roddy had a chance to be a hero, but an overtime field goal sailed wide right, and the Wildcat football team lost a 15-14 heartbreaker to the Dogies in Wyoming.

This year, Roddy was on the good side of the uprights.

Roddy booted a 25-yard field goal as time expired last Friday night at Wildcat field, giving Custer a 15-12 season opening victory, erasing last year’s bad memory and getting Custer’s season off on the right foot—literally.

The Custer High School Volleyball team is looking forward to contending again at a state level, according to coach Renae Schneider.

“We expect to be competitive in the conference, district, region and state,” said Schneider, who is entering her third year as head coach in Custer.

Three, four and five will be magic numbers for the Custer High School boys golf team this fall.

Not only are three, four and five good scores on most holes on a golf course, but the three, four and five golfers for the Wildcat golf team are what head coach Paul Kelley believes will make or break his team this year.

The Custer High School soccer team got its season underway with a trip to East River last week, defeating Mitchell Christian 4-0 last Friday and falling 4-3 to Harrisburg on Saturday.

In the game against Christian, Custer took an early lead when a Christian defender had an intentional handball in the box, giving the Wildcats a penalty kick. Senior striker Luke Roddy took the kick and scored the opening goal. It was the only goal of the first half.

Bobby Smith. Tyger Long. Tyler Custis. Eric Flores. Darin Smith.

If you read through the Custer High School record books for shot put and discus, you will see a who’s who of South Dakota legends, all-time state record holders and multiple state title winners who will forever be revered in the minds of Custer sports fans.

You can add one more name to that list—Tyler Schultz.

Gold Discovery days was full of sporting activities, from volleyball to softball, horseshoes to disc golf.

“Almost Original” won the four-on-four volleyball tournament. The team of Ashley Schultz, Kate Starr, Chad Bryant and Luke Roddy defeated the Wyoming Slow “Pokes” for the championship. The Slow Pokes consisted of Toby Cass, Stacey Cass, Ryan Bailey and Roxy Gray.

Patrick Baumann, 53, Custer High School class of 1975 graduate and  current resident of Douglas, Wyo., often remarks “Coach Knudson said to....” as he prepares for a running event. He calls coach Knudson saying “Go to the end! You can do it!”

Marathons have become routine, from  the streets of Oklahoma City, Okla., to Lincoln, Neb., to the Mickelson Trail—where on June 5 Patrick  placed 52nd out of 326 racers overall and second out of 33 in his age group in a time of 3:41:02. He rested briefly—and immediately  finished a secondary half marathon in 2:05:55,  as training for his next upcoming challenge.

Hunters will have 8,600 less deer tags to purchase this fall, after the state Game, Fish & Parks Commission (GF&P) decided to reduce the tags because of a decrease in deer population west of the Missouri River.

Custer High School junior-to-be Breezy Boldon was the overall high-scorer at the South Dakota High School Rodeo Southwest Region June 12-13 in Sturgis, winning the all-around title and putting herself in good position for the South Dakota High School Rodeo Association State Finals in Belle Fourche this weekend.

Boldon competed in breakaway roping, pole bending, goat tying and barrel racing, winning the breakaway and pole bending buckles, while finishing third in the goat tying average and winning high points on the timed events. The winners are determined by taking the averages from her first and second go-around.

The Custer mens baseball team played in Alliance, Neb., the weekend of June 6 against the Alliance Steam and lost two close games.

On Saturday night,  Custer lost 6-4 in nine innings, and Sunday morning lost again 6-5 in seven innings. The Granite played a non-league game Sunday afternoon losing to Sidney, Neb., 14-7

A year after going on his first African safari, Michael Busskohl, 22, of Custer, fulfilled his lifelong dream in hunting “Africa's Black Death”—the Cape Buffalo. He did so when he recently returned to Africa for another safari.

His dream was realized when Alberts Lowveld, owner of Alberts Lowveld Safaris, called Busskohl on an opportunity to hunt a problem buffalo. This particular bull was a high risk threat to bo

Bolstered by a first place finish in the 400 relay, the Custer High School girls track team placed second in the Class A State Track Meet last weekend in Sioux Falls and Lennox.

The girls finished with 41 points, to tie St. Thomas More for second place honors. Clark-Willow Lake were state champions, compiling 55 points. The team was fighting for the state championship right down to the last race, where there was a nine point difference separating the teams at the top.

Pardon the pun, but the May 19 weather at the Black Hills Conference golf meet was par for the course.

As has been the case since the beginning of the season, Custer High School girls golf team members were greeted by a cold, wet and altogether miserable day for the meet, which was played at Hart Ranch outside Rapid City.

“We had to have flotation gear,” Custer head coach Dale Schaffer said.

It was another meet and another championship for the Custer High School girls golf team, as they continued their impressive season by running away with the team title at the Region 8A track meet last Thursday in Custer.

The girls blasted the competition by 50 points, racking up 195.5 points, well ahead of second place St. Thomas More. The girls had someone place in the top eight in every event at the meet except for the pole vault.

The Custer High School girls track team are once again the queens of Black Hills Conference—thanks in large part to the performance of one.

Taylor Neugebauer tied two school records on her way to two individual championships, while also running on a pair of winning relay teams to lead the team to 151.33 points and another conference crown. St. Thomas More finished second with 139 points.

Three Custer High School girls golf team members will get to play in the state tournament next Monday and Tuesday, after qualifying for the tournament at the Region 4A golf meet last Thursday in Hot Springs.

Juniors Katie Starr and Taylor Kuhn, along with eighth grader Rachel Petik, all qualified for the meet, by virtue of placing in the top 55 percent of the golfer who competed at the meet.

Two more individuals and two more relay teams qualified for the Class A State track meet last weekend, as the Custer High School girls track team continued its torrid pace in the running events at the Black Hills Track Classic in Sturgis Saturday.

Despite the cool and breezy weather that has been the standard this spring, both Taylor Neugebauer and Breezy Boldon qualifed for the state meet in the 200, with Neugebauer running a time of 26.3, good for fifth place, and Boldon posting a time of 26.8.

The Custer High School golf team got in one meet before the weather turned sour last week, placing third at the St. Thomas More Invitational last Thursday afternoon. The meet was played at the Elks Golf Course in Rapid City.

Katie Starr led the way for the Wildcats, shooting a nine-hole score of 55. She was followed by Rachel Petik and Taylor Kuhn, both who shot a 63, and Jessy Harbach at 64.

Although the scheduled track meet for Lead-Deadwood was cancelled because of weather last Saturday, a handful of Custer High School track athletes traveled east to the Howard Wood Invitational last Saturday in Sioux Falls.

The boys were led by Tyler Schultz’s second place finish in the shot put, where he improved on his season-best mark by two feet, with a throw of 56-4 1/2. He was defeated by an athlete from Beresford, who he will undoubtedly tangle with again at the state meet.

The Custer High School girls golf team played in the Pre-Region golf meet April 20 at Southern Hills Golf Course in Hot Springs, coming away with a fifth place finish.

The team was led by Rachel Petik, who shot a score of 110 on the 18-hole event. She was followed by Taylor Kuhn at 116, Katie Starr at 128, Jessy Harbach at 129 and Kendal Ashmore at 155. As a team, the Wildcats finished with a score of 483.