The Associated Press

YANKTON - The South Dakota Sportswriters Association has announced the winners of its annual year-end awards.

Honorees are selected in 16 categories, including athlete, coach and team of the year for males and females at the prep and collegiate levels, a male and female independent athlete of the year, an independent team of the year and the state's sports celebrity.

Independent team

Rapid City's Canyon Lake All-Stars didn't win an official game at the Little League World Series in August, but the impact from the first South Dakota team ever to make the trip to South Williamsport, Pa., could be felt across the state for years to come.

The South Dakota Sportswriters Association voted the Canyon Lake Little League All-Stars the 2008 Independent Team of the year.

The intrepid group of 11-13-year-old Canyon Lake players captured the fancy of their hometown and home state by capturing the North/South Dakota division championship and then the Midwest Region title, defeating Coon Rapids, Minn., in the region finale in Indianapolis, Ind.

Then it was on to South Williamsport, Pa., where the South Dakotans lost to Tampa, Fla., Shelton, Conn., and eventual world champion Waipahu, Hawaii, in pool play games nationally televised on ABC and ESPN.

In addition to games played before more than 10,000 spectators, players were treated to parades, and encountered well-wishers and autograph seekers during their time in Pennsylvania.

"My son said they're being treated like rock stars," said Lara Roetzel of Rapid City, mother of Rapid City player Cale Fierro, who hit a home run against Hawaii in a close 6-4 loss.

Only teams from western South Dakota currently participate in Little League programs, but that could change because of the publicity received by Canyon Lake at the World Series.

A news release published in November on LittleLeague.org, reported that Little League International's director of league development, Sam Ranck of Williamsport, traveled to South Dakota to meet with officials in Sioux Falls and Brandon to discuss the possibility of establishing Little League programs there. Inquiries were also reported from officials from Dell Rapids, Brookings and Milbank.

College men's athlete

With team success comes the opportunity for individual accolades and that is how 2008 has gone for South Dakota State's senior quarterback Ryan Berry.

A finalist for the prestigious Draddy Trophy and National Football Federation Scholar-Athlete, Berry adds College Male Athlete of the Year as voted on by the South Dakota Sportswriters' Association to his collection of awards.

A Watertown native, Berry helped lead the Jackrabbits to a 7-5 overall record and a 6-2 record in their first season in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, good for third place.

Along the way, Berry earned first-team MVFC honors after a record-breaking season. He led the MVFC in passing yards per game (258.8), touchdown passes (30) and total offense (250.8 ypg), while ranking second in pass efficiency (149.34). In league games, Berry threw for 21 touchdowns and only four interceptions. His seven touchdown passes against Illinois State on Nov. 8 set SDSU and league single-game records.

During the 2008 season, Berry established Jackrabbit single-season records for completions (256), attempts (395) and touchdown passes (30). He also set SDSU career marks for completions (485), attempts (834), passing yards (6,023) and touchdown passes (56).

Academically, Berry received first-team honors MVFC honors while compiling a 3.89 grade-point average in biology/pre-medicine. He also was to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII First Team.

College men's coach

A 52-3 overall record, including a 41-1 mark in the last three years. There isn't a college football coach in America who wins as often as University of Sioux Falls coach Kalen DeBoer.

With a victory over five-time national champion Carroll College Dec. 20 in Georgia, DeBoer's Cougars captured their second NAIA national football championship in the last three years in what was their third consecutive appearance in the title game.

DeBoer inherited a program with a winning tradition when he took over for the retired Bob Young before the 2005 season - the Cougars had made the playoffs four straight years, and DeBoer himself had helped lead them to their first national title as a record-setting wide receiver in 1996.

He led that first team to an 11-2 record and the NAIA semifinals, but the Milbank native, who also briefly played professional baseball, recognized there was still another level his program needed to reach.

By aggressively recruiting athletic, dual-threat quarterbacks Chad Cavender and Lorenzo Brown, not to mention several other higher-than-NAIA-caliber talents from in and out of the area, DeBoer quickly pushed his team to the highest levels of NAIA football.

With help from highly-regarded assistants Chuck Morrell, Kurtiss Riggs and John Anderson, the Cougars have run their streak of consecutive playoff appearances to eight, and with only a handful of seniors graduating this year, are in prime position to make it back to the championship for the fourth straight year.

College men's team

To say that the Dakota Wesleyan University football team was a surprise this season might be an understatement.

The Tigers were coming off of back-to-back 4-6 seasons and were picked to finish eighth in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. But Dakota Wesleyan, which returned 20 of its 22 starters from the 2007 season, was out to prove everyone wrong, and that's exactly what it did. The Tigers finished the 2008 season 7-3 and in third place in the GPAC.

This turnaround has earned them the honor of being named the College Men's Team of the year by the South Dakota Sportswriter's Association.

This season marked the first winning season for the Tigers since entering the GPAC in 2000 and their best season since 1993.

Dakota Wesleyan ended the season No. 25 in the NAIA coaches' poll, and, had it not been for one missed two-point conversion Sept. 27, it could have been 8-2 and had a playoff berth. The Tigers lost 28-27 in double overtime to Hastings, ending a two-game winning streak

During the season, DWU upset then-No. 19 Midland Lutheran 19-14 and, in their biggest win of the season, the Tigers upset then-No. 12 Northwestern 17-6 in Orange City, Iowa. The win was the first in DWU history against the Red Raiders.

"We've come to a level now where we've beat one of the top three teams in the league, and that doesn't just happen overnight," DWU fourth-year head coach Brad Pole said. "That's something that's taken four years. I think this answers questions as to whether or not this program is a legitimate team in the GPAC."

The Tigers have been well rewarded for their standout season. Nick Tolsma was named to the AFCA NAIA Coaches' All-America team - the first AFCA All-American in DWU football history and the first All-American since 2002. DWU head coach Brad Pole was named the GPAC coach of the year, and the Tigers had six athletes on the All-GPAC first team - the total number of first-team picks for DWU in the GPAC's first eight seasons combined. DWU also had two second-team picks and 11 honorable mention selections.

College women's athlete

From a town of 400 people, Emma Erickson arrived on the scene at the University of South Dakota a small-town girl with big-time talent.

As a freshman, Erickson won the 800-meter run at the Division II Indoor and Outdoor National Championships in 2008. She became the first freshman, and just the second female, to win two national titles in one year at USD.

Because of her success on the track, Erickson has been named the South Dakota Sportswriters Association's College Women's Athlete of the Year.

Named the Class B Outstanding Athlete at the state track meet in her senior year at Gayville-Volin, Erickson said she wasn't sure if her high school success would translate to the collegiate level.

"I came in with very few expectations," Erickson said. "I just came out to have fun. I did, and I guess I gained a lot more recognition than I was anticipating."

It didn't take long for Erickson to prove to herself and the competition that she belonged with the best. In her third collegiate race, Erickson recorded the best 800-meter time in D-II in 2008 with a time of 2:10.29.

Erickson went on to win individual titles in the 800-meter run to go along with four relay titles at the North Central Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships to help the Coyote women's team win the NCC crown at both events in the conference's final year of existence.

Erickson earned six All-American honors at the national indoor and outdoor championships and set the school record in the 800-meter run during the outdoor championships in May with a time of 2:07.36.

Due to her excellence on the track and in the classroom, Erickson was also named Women's 2008 Division II Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Scholar Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Lucky Huber, the USD women's track coach, said he was impressed with how Erickson handled herself in her first season.

"I've never had a freshman have that kind of a year before," Huber said. "She put a lot of pressure on herself to represent the University of South Dakota and Gayville the best that she could. We're all really proud of how she did that."

College women's coach

In the span of nine short years, South Dakota State's Lang Wedemeyer started the Jackrabbit soccer program from scratch, weathered four years of Division I transition, and qualified for the NCAA College Cup in the Jacks' first year of postseason eligibility.

For his team's success, Wedemeyer has been named the College Women's Coach of the Year by the South Dakota Sportswriters' Association.

With nine seniors dominating the team, Wedemeyer and the Jackrabbits culminated the 2008 season with a tie for the Summit League regular-season championship, a Summit League Tournament championship and a first-round win over the University of Colorado in the College Cup.

The University of Minnesota ended the Jacks' Cinderella season with a 2-0 win in the second round.

After losing its first two games this season, SDSU rattled off a 12-2-1 record the remainder of the regular season, including a school-record 10 in a row. The final eight wins came by shutout.

The Jacks compiled a 15-5-1 overall record this season, which boosted Wedemeyer's career coaching record to 78-72-17, all at South Dakota State.

Wedemeyer's guidance also helped SDSU to have its first Jackrabbit women's soccer player to earn Academic All-America recognition when senior Erin Kasmarik was named to the ESPN The Magazine Women's Soccer Academic All-America second team.

In addition to this year's S.D. Sportswriters Coach of the Year award, Wedemeyer also won the North Central Conference Coach of the Year award in 2001 after the Jacks posted a 13-6-1 record in their second season of existence.

College women's team

Who says nobody remembers a second-place finisher?

Sure, there are no banners hung signifying a national runner-up effort, but at the University of South Dakota, those types of performances don't happen too often.

And so, when they do, they're remembered forever.

USD's second-place finish in the 2007-08 Division II women's basketball national tournament has earned the Coyotes the honor of College Women's Team of the Year, as voted on by the South Dakota Sportswriters Association.

The story of last season's team played out as if written for a screenplay. A team in its final season at the D-II level, playing for a coach in his last season, putting together a 31-game winning streak and coming within five points of winning a national championship.

Yet, to get even to get to the national championship game in Kearney, Neb., was a whole other journey in itself.

After finishing with a 22-9 record and a first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament in the 2006-07 season, the Coyotes returned all five starters for the 2007-08 campaign. USD was unranked in the preseason top 25 poll and was also picked to finish second in the North Central Conference.

After back-to-back wins to start the season, the Coyotes fell to Adams State at a game played in Colorado. At that time, USD was 2-1.

The next loss wouldn't come for another four months.

USD cruised through the conference season unbeaten, at 12-0, marking just the sixth time in league history that a team put together a perfect NCC season. The highlight of their season at that point was an upset of No. 1 North Dakota 70-67 in Grand Forks, N.D.

After claiming the NCC Post-Season Tournament and the NCAA North Central Regional, both at home, it was on to Kearney, Neb.

On March 26, USD opened Elite Eight play against Washburn (Kan.), a team that had won the 2005 national title. In a double overtime thriller, the Coyotes held off Washburn 85-80. A day later, USD upset top-ranked Delta State 68-58 in the national semifinals.

However, on March 29, in front a nationally-televised audience, USD's storybook season came to a sudden halt. The Coyotes, up nine points with under six minutes to play, were defeated by Northern Kentucky 63-58.

In one fell swoop, USD's winning streak and Lavin's legendary career came to an end.

Nonetheless, USD finished its final season at the D-II level 33-2, including the program's first-ever appearance in the national championship game. The Coyotes also set a school record for wins a season, with the previous mark being 28 set by the 2002-03 team.

Independent male athlete

The smoothest and most consistent player in South Dakota prep basketball has remained the same in major college hoops. The 6-foot-7 Krabbenhoft, who starred at Sioux Falls Roosevelt High School, has managed to become a household name among college basketball junkies without ever having averaged even eight points per game in a season.

That's what happens when you turn yourself into a superb all-around talent through hard work. A Big Ten All-Freshman team selection in 2005-06 and an All-Big Ten defensive team pick in '07-'08, Krabbenhoft has continued his steady, coach-and-fan-pleasing play this year as a senior for the Wisconsin Badgers.

"In my opinion, he's their best player," says Wisconsin-Green Bay coach Todd Kowalczyk.

Krabbenhoft, who has played in every game for the Badgers since he was a true freshman, is averaging 7.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 49 percent from the floor and 91 percent from the line. He averaged 7.6 points and 6.5 rebounds to lead the Badgers to the Big Ten title last year as a junior.

Those across-the-board offensive contributions, coupled with his All-American caliber defense, have some suggesting he may have a future as an NBA role player.

"That's been my dream since I was a little kid," Krabbenhoft says. "I definitely think about it. The success we have as a team is what's going to allow me to have that opportunity. It's not about the numbers with me. If we have a good team that goes deep into the tournament, that means me and everyone else on this team will get that much more exposure.

Independent female athlete

It's hard not to be impressed with Rapid City-native Ashley Nord.

As a pole vaulter on the University of Minnesota track and field team from 2003 to 2008, she placed in several Big Ten championships and was an academic All-Big Ten honoree every year. She had a career-best height of 13 feet in the spring and owns three Big Ten championship rings from team titles over the past three seasons.

But she did something more impressive in the classroom.

In late November, the global studies, astrophysics and physics major - taking an average of 17 credit hours per semester - was named a Rhodes Scholar for 2008, one of 32 Americans to receive the scholarship. She joins the ranks of Rhodes winners who provide ample evidence that sports and smarts are not mutually exclusive. Nord joins a group that includes basketball legend and former U.S. senator Bill Bradley; Supreme Court Justice Byron (Whizzer) White, a football star in college and the NFL; and Pete Dawkins, a Heisman Trophy winner and Army brigadier general.

In her time at Minnesota, Nord worked on software for the motor and temperature control system of the cryogenic portion of a new instrument being built for the Massive Mirror Telescope on Mount Hopkins in Arizona; studied a simulated neural network that interprets signals from the forearm; and conducted research on counter-terrorism.

She also spent one summer during her undergraduate career studying in Venezuela and two summers conducting research with funding from the National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy and in a biophysics laboratory at UCLA.

According to Nord, her experiences as an athlete, including her recovery from several injuries, led to a passionate interest in the biological and medical applications of physics. At Oxford, Nord plans to pole vault with the Oxford track team and be a part of the Mountaineering Club.

When asked if she had any advice for students interested in trying to reach similar goals, Nord recommended persistence.

"You've just got to go for it," she said. "This is something I thought was a tremendous long shot. Even if you don't have people behind you necessarily supporting you or believing in you, you've just gotta go for it, and chalk up the failures to experience. Don't look back, and go on to the next thing."

Celebrity

This year, the South Dakota Sports Celebrity is from a sport which doesn't get a lot of publicity. It's not a sport people will wake up in the morning and read the morning paper to see how the athletes in the sport did.

Except for this summer, when for about a two-week span, South Dakota was transfixed on how pole vaulter Derek Miles was doing in Beijing during the Summer Olympics.

Miles, a former University of South Dakota pole vaulter and current coach for the USD track and field team, is this year's South Dakota Sportswriter's Celebrity of the Year after finishing fourth in the Olympics in the pole vault.

The best thing about receiving this award is the knowing the support he is getting Miles said.

"Whenever you can have the support of the community, it gives you confidence because you know people are behind what you do," Miles said. "It pushes you out of bed to go and work hard each and everyday, especially on the days you don't want to get out of bed and work on vaulting."

Being named the South Dakota Sports Celebrity of the Year isn't the only honor Miles has come away with lately. A couple weeks ago, Miles was named recipient of the Jim Thorpe Award.

The Jim Thorpe award is given out annually to an outstanding male athlete in the field events and decathlon category.

Miles said he is still processing winning the award.

"It's an amazing honor, but I feel I have a lot of work to do it earn it," Miles said. "I am going to work hard to win a World Championship medal to show I deserve the award."

Other winners of the award include Bryan Clay, who won the Olympic gold medal in the decathlon this past summer, '96 decathlon gold medalist Dan O'Brien and nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, to name a few.

"It's a prestigious list and an honor to see the list of people who have won the award," Miles said. "I feel like a bottle of beer among a bunch of champagne bottles."

Before this past summer, Miles also made the Olympic team in 2004 and finished seventh. Now Miles is 35 years old and just focusing on competing this year and won't commit to trying to make the 2012 Olympic team.

"I now view it from year to year, and if I continue to be competitive with the rest of the world, than it's a sign I can keep going," Miles said. "When I do call it quits, I want to go off on my own terms, because I don't want remember the sport for the times I was no longer competitive."