May 26, 2026
MADISON, S.D. – Dakota State (S.D.) completed their inaugural year in the Frontier Conference, finishing third in the George R. Bandy Memorial All-Sports award. The Trojans capped off an outstanding year of athletics excellence, earning a pair of conference titles during the 2025-26 season.
The season, the Frontier Conference is honored to officially restore the award's original and complete title: the George R. Bandy Memorial All-Sports Award. The return to its full name serves as a tribute to George R. Bandy's enduring legacy, his profound impact on the conference, and his lifelong dedication to collegiate athletics.
To be eligible for the George R. Bandy Memorial All-Sports Award, institutions must complete in a minimum of two Frontier Conference sports. The standings are determined by a comprehensive scoring system across all conference-sponsored sports, with specific criteria applied to ensure fairness and consistency (composite index score):
- Ties in the standings: Teams that tied in the countable standings received the exact same score. For example, in an event of a three-way tie for fourth place, all three teams were awarded a 4.0 mark, rather than an average (5.0) of the fourth, fifth, and sixth-place positions.
- Cross Country & Golf: All participating teams received a ranking team score, including instances where a team did not start and/or finish with the minimum number of participants required for a traditional team score.
- Track & Field (Indoor and Outdoor): Only teams who successfully scored points at the championship meets received a placing score for the All-Sports award.
Dakota State was in a closely tight race with two other schools in the Frontier Conference All-Sports standings. The Trojans registered a composite index score of 3.583.
Montana Tech secured the top spot with a 3.083 composite index score (CIS), followed by Carroll (Mont.) second with 3.462 composite index score. Rocky Mountain (Mont.) was fourth with 4.083 CIS, Dickinson State (N.D.) fifth with 4.714 CIS, and Bellevue (Neb.) sixth with 4.923 CIS.
Dakota State won two Frontier Conference team titles, winning the women's basketball conference regular-season title and closing the athletics season by winning the women's outdoor track & field title. The Trojans were also second in the Frontier Conference East Division in football, and second in both women's and men's indoor track & field conference meet.
Below is the complete list of the 2025-26 George R. Bandy Memorial All-Sports Award standings:
| 2025-26 George R. Bandy Memorial All-Sports Award |
| Rank |
Institution |
Composite Index Score |
| 1 |
Montana Tech |
3.083 |
| 2 |
Carroll (Mont.) |
3.462 |
| 3 |
Dakota State (S.D.) |
3.583 |
| 4 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
4.083 |
| 5 |
Dickinson State (N.D.) |
4.714 |
| 6 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
4.923 |
| 7 |
Bismarck State (N.D.) |
6.182 |
| 8 |
Valley City State (N.D.) |
6.929 |
| T9 |
Providence (Mont.) |
7.000 |
| T9 |
Mayville State (N.D.) |
7.000 |
| 11 |
MSU-Northern |
7.889 |
| 12 |
Montana Western |
7.900 |
