JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER Two amateur baseball greats with ties to the Freeman community will be inducted into the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame who will be recognized Saturday, Aug. 6 during the South Dakota State Amateur Baseball Tournament in Mitchell, and at a hall of fame banquet in Tabor Saturday, Nov. 5.

The Freeman town team is heading to the 2022 State Amateur Baseball Tournament next month. The only question is if it will head to Mitchell as the District 6 champion or Representative No. 1.

Centerville proved to be too tough for the defending Class B 14U champions as the Canistota/Freeman Sticks were eliminated in the championship round of the SD VFW Region 6B Tournament. Facing a must-win game in the double-elimination tournament, the Sticks fell to 9-5 Wednesday night, July 13 in Freeman.

Laverne Diede, whose career in education was marked by 40 years at Freeman Public Schools as a coach, teacher and administrator, is being recognized once again for her role in high school athletics. The South Dakota High School Coaches Association (SDHSCA) announced last month that Diede will be inducted into the SDHSCA Hall of Fame. An induction ceremony and awards luncheon will be held at the Highland Conference Center in Mitchell this Sunday, July 17 at 1 p.m. Tickets for the banquet can be arranged by contacting Jim Dorman at 605-940-1262.

For an exclusive and fun look back at Freeman Academy/Marion, Freeman Public and Menno's participation in the 2022 State Track Meet, click here.

For the Freeman Academy/Marion boys track team, the 2022 State Track Meet started and ended just about as well as could be imagined.

As a seventh grader competing in her first State Track Meet on Friday, all Rylee Peters wanted was to advance to the finals in her open events — the 100 and 300 hurdles. Not only has she reached that goal, she’s going into Saturday’s competition with two of the best times in the field.

Student-athletes from Freeman Academy/Marion, Freeman Public and Menno all earned medals on the first day of the three-day, all-class 2022 State Track Meet at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls Thursday afternoon, May 26.

Five golfers from Freeman Public and two from Freeman Academy/Marion qualified for the 2022 State B Golf Tournament at the Region 3B meet at Hartford Monday, May 23. Those advancing from Freeman Public are: seniors Paige Auch and Lily Wipf, junior Zac Sayler, eighth grader Thor Aanenson and seventh grader Tannen Auch. Those advancing from Freeman Academy/Marion are Jada Buse and Sieta Wiersema, both freshmen at FA. State will be held Monday and Tuesday, June 6 and 7 in the Black Hills. The girls will compete at Hart Ranch and the boys will play at the Elks Country Club.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER Rylee Peters was eight years old when Raygen Diede qualified for her first State Track Meet — the discus competition of 2018. In the years since, both have grown up a bunch. Diede, who just finished her senior year at Menno, has been among Class B’s top throwers in both the discus and the shot put while Peters, who will be an eighth grader at Freeman Public in fall, has quickly emerged as a star on the rise in the hurdles.