PART 1: WINTER COLLEGE SPORTS REPORT - Rau wrestles at NAIA national meet; basketball seasons end for several

PART 1: WINTER COLLEGE SPORTS REPORT

Our 2023-24 winter sports update for local student-athetes at the collegiate level will be published in two parts with indoor track and field to be highlighted next week, including Joey Sullivan being part of a national championship with UW-La Crosse and Steven Petkau setting school records at Crown College, as well as women’s swimming.

This week’s update features reports from the wrestling mat and basketball courts.

 Jake Rau, a 2020 Medford graduate, completed his senior wrestling season with the University of Jamestown (N.D.) by competing in the 2024 NAIA National Championship held Feb. 29-March 2 in Park City, Kansas.

Wrestling at 197 pounds, Rau was defeated 5-2 by 16th-seeded Carl Hansen of Montana State-Northern in his first match and 13-4 by Isaiah Hernandez of Vanguard in his second match.

Rau went 15-10 this year, with all of his matches being in the 197-pound weight class. Before his nationals appearance, Rau placed fourth in his weight class at the Great Plains Athletic Conference meet, hosted by Concordia University in Seward, Neb. Feb. 16-17. Rau went into the meet ranked 22nd nationally at 197. He went 2-2, pinning Briar Cliff’s Christian Balmer in 1:51 before losing 15-3 to sixthranked Kasten Grape of Doane. Rau defeated Kaleb Lind of Northwestern (Iowa) 9-6 before getting pinned in 1:54 in the third-place match by Concordia’s Mason Garcia.

Rau went 2-2 at the Missouri Valley College Invitational Jan. 19-20, pinning Waldorf’s Ellis Hughes in 52 seconds and Michael Rhea of Menlo (Calif.) in 3:35. Rau had a sixth-place finish while going 2-2 at the season-opening Jamestown Open Nov. 4. Rau had a 56-second pin over Dallas Paxton in a 42-12 win over Hastings and a 9-0 major decision over Nate McDonald in a 39-6 win over Midland in a Nov. 21 double-dual in Sioux City, Iowa.

Late in the season, Rau pinned Teegan Tschampel in 2:03 in Jamestown’s 29-21 dual-meet win over Concordia on Jan. 27 and he was an 8-1 winner over Dakota Wesleyan’s Colten Hink in a 21-15 dualmeet loss on Jan. 12.

Rau has a 27-20 two-year record with the Jimmies, who finished seventh out of nine teams in the GPAC Championships. Jamestown had a 6-9 dual-meet record this winter. Rau started his collegiate wrestling career at Itasca Community College.

 Logan Baumgartner, a 2023 Medford graduate, appeared in 23 games and started two of them, during his freshman season with the UW-Stevens Point men’s basketball team, which went 14-13 this season, including a 7-7 mark in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Baumgartner averaged 5.1 points, 1.9 rebounds per game and added 21 assists, 14 steals and 10 blocks for the Pointers. He shot 40.6% from the field (39 of 96), including 27 of 71 on 3-point shots (38%). He made 13 of 18 free throws (72.2%). Baumgartner hit a season-high of 11 points three times during the season, the last of which came in the Pointers’ seasonending 82-79 loss at UW-River Falls in the semifinals of the WIAC tournament. In 21 minutes Baumgartner was three of four from long range and had three rebounds and two assists.

Baumgartner scored 11 points on fourof- nine shooting, including three-of-six on 3s and grabbed four rebounds in an 81-55 loss at UW-Whitewater on Feb. 7. He hit four of seven shots, including three of six 3s and grabbed three rebounds while scoring 11 points in a 72-67 home loss to UW-Oshkosh.

Baumgartner played a season-high 26 minutes in a big 65-64 home win over league champion UW-Platteville on Jan. 24, who was ranked 11th nationally and undefeated in league play at the time. He scored eight points in that game, while knocking down a couple of 3s. The Pointers won the game on Malik Abdul-Wahid’s jumper with a half-second left.

Baumgartner hit a season-high of four rebounds four times, had two assists six times and had four steals in a 69-64 home win over UW-Oshkosh on Feb. 17. He had nine points in 16 minutes in that game.

 Tatum Weir, a 2023 Gilman graduate, appeared in 16 games in her freshman season with the UW-Platteville women’s basketball team. Weir averaged 1.5 points and 1.7 rebounds on 5.4 minutes per game in those appearances for the Pioneers, who went 14-12 overall and 7-7 in the WIAC.

Weir’s top outing came in the Pioneers’ opening 72-45 win over Marian at the Hope College Tip-Off Tournament in Holland, Mich. Nov. 10. In a season-high 12 minutes, Weir scored four points, grabbed six rebounds, including four offensive boards and blocked two shots in the win.

Weir scored four points in back-to-back WIAC games in early January. She hit both of her shots from the field in a 70-45 home loss to UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 3 and was two of four from the field, hitting back-toback third-quarter jumpers, in seven minutes of court time in a 73-71 win at UWRiver Falls Jan. 6. She had two rebounds and an assist in that game as well. UW-P won the game on a last-second 3-pointer by Barb Kling.

Weir played 11 minutes and got a bucket and three rebounds in a 53-36 revenge win over UW-Eau Claire Jan. 31 at Zorn Arena. She finished her first season with 24 points and 27 rebounds.

 Andy Hecker, a standout for Gilman during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 basketball seasons, averaged 9.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game for Faith Baptist Bible College’s men’s basketball team. The Eagles went 10-19 during the 2023-24 season, including a 6-8 mark in the Midwest Christian College Conference. The school is located in Ankeny, Iowa.

The 6-1 junior appeared in 27 games, starting five. He scored a seasonhigh 23 points on eight-of-10 shooting while making all six of his free throws in a high-scoring 12294 loss at Spurgeon College Feb. 17. He also had five rebounds and three steals in that game. He had 20 points on eight-of-11 shooting and added five rebounds, three assists and a steal in an 82-78 home loss to Ozark Christian College on Feb. 3.

Hecker hit double figures in scor- ing 11 times with six of those coming in Faith Baptist’s last nine games. He had 14 points and seven rebounds in a 63-59 win at Central Christian College of the Bible on Feb. 16 and 16 points and five boards in the Feb. 24 home rematch, which the Eagles lost 85-80. He had 15 points and eight rebounds in a 67-48 home loss to Manhattan Christian College on Feb. 23. He closed the season with 13 points, three rebounds and three steals in an 85-54 loss to Crown College March 8 in the semifinals of the North Division II National Christian College Athletic Association’s North Region Tournament, hosted by Trinity Bible College in Ellendale, N.D.

 Bryson Keepers, who played football for Gilman in the 2018-21 seasons, was a starter in his second season playing for the Oak Hill Christian College men’s basketball team. The school of about 100 students is located in Bemidji, Minn.

Keepers averaged about 5.5 points and rebounds per game for the Wolf Pack, who went 7-20 overall. The team finished its season March 14 with a 79-48 win over Free Lutheran Bible College in the fifthplace game of the six-team Association of Christian College Athletics Nationals events held on Free Lutheran’s campus in Plymouth, Minn. Keepers had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists in the win.

Fifth-seeded Oak Hills lost to fourthseeded Union College 81-60 the previous day.

The Wolf Pack lost their opening game of the North Division II National Christian College Athletic Association’s North Region Tournament 101-78 to Trinity Bible College on March 7.

Keepers hit double figures in scoring in six games in the second half of the season, led by a 12-point, eight-rebound, three-steal effort in an 84-73 win over Providence University College on Jan. 13. He had an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double along with three assists in a 100-54 win over Free Lutheran on Jan. 23 and he had a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double Jan. 27 in a 95-83 home win over Turtle Mountain Community College. He had 11 points and eight rebounds in a 107-82 loss at Trinity Bible College on Feb. 3.

Keepers had a season-high six assists in a 75-74 win at Sisseton Whapeton College on Dec. 2, six steals in an 85-58 win over Free Lutheran on Feb. 6 and four blocked shots in the team’s first game, a 96-43 loss at Rockford University on Nov. 10.

Logan Baumgartner

Tatum Weir

Andy Hecker

Bryson Keepers