2014 Dakota State University Athletic Hall of Fame
| Inductee Name |
Title/Award/Honor/Athlete/Coach/Others |
| Desa Rae (Doyle) Cleveland |
Track & Field |
| Amy (Hansen) Tvedt |
Cross Country, Track & Field |
| Lorin Larsen (posthumously) |
Track & Field |
| Ryan Phillips |
Cross Country, Track & Field |
| Buzz Stevenson |
Coaching |
1996-97 Men's Cross Country and
Track & Field |
SDIC Championship Team |
Desa Rae (Doyle) Cleveland - Track & Field
History was made during the 2000 indoor track and field when Dakota State had its first national champion in school history. Desa Rae Cleveland (Doyle) was the first-ever female Trojan to win a national event at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Cleveland began her athletic career at De Smet (S.D.) High School where she participated in basketball, volleyball and track. She still holds the high school high jump record of 5 feet, 7 inches. She continued her education and track career at Huron University, earning two NAIA All-American selections before transferring to Dakota State University.
In her first season at Dakota State in the winter of 2000, Cleveland won the high jump at the final South Dakota-Iowa Conference (SDIC) indoor meet with a measurement of five feet, six inches.
Cleveland's memorable and historic day occurred at the 2000 NAIA National Indoor Track & Field meet in Lincoln, Neb. She cleared high jump bar with a jump of five feet, six inches to claim the national women's high jump on her 20th birthday, making her the first-ever female to win a national championship at Dakota State University.
Cleveland produced a DSU school record of 5 feet, 8.5 inches at the annual premier Howard Wood Relays in May 2000. Her outdoor high jump school record stood for eight years.
During her track career at Dakota State University, Cleveland produced five NAIA All-American awards and four All-Conference honors (with two each from the SDIC and the Dakota Athletic Conference (DAC-10).
Cleveland was picked as DSU's Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year in 2000 and 2001. She earned the NAIA Academic Scholar-Athlete award twice for her academic success in the classroom as a junior and senior.
Cleveland graduated from Dakota State University in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in Information Systems. She has been working at Larson Manufacturing in Brookings, S.D. for 12 years where she started as an intern in their computer department and was hired shortly thereafter as an Information Systems Specialist.
Desa Rae currently lives in De Smet, S.D. with her husband Rob and their two children – RJ and Lily.
Amy (Hansen) Tvedt - Cross Country, Track & Field
Amy Tvedt (Hansen) left her mark at Dakota State University as one of the top distance runners in cross country and track & field history. She was considered as one of the top two runners alongside with her teammate and DSU's Hall-of-Famer Marie Parker-Sample.
Tvedt hailed from Oakes High School in North Dakota and was a State Track qualifier from seventh grade through twelfth grade. At Dakota State, she continued that dominance and broke a total of 12 different school records during her senior season.
Tvedt began her collegiate running career at Dakota State with the cross country team in 1995. She finished as a runner-up with a South Dakota-Iowa Conference (SDIC) All-Conference honor and qualified for the NAIA Cross Country national meet.
She continued her impressive performances by winning the 1500- and 3000-meter runs at the 1996 SDIC Indoor Track & Field Conference Championships. Tvedt qualified for the national meet in three different events (1000-meters, 1-mile run and 3000-meters) and earned her first NAIA All-American status by placing fourth in the 3000-meter run. She clocked a new DSU school record time of ten minutes and 11.6 seconds in the event.
Dakota State won the SDIC women's outdoor track & field team title in 1996. Tvedt was the conference champion in both 1500- and 3000-meters and qualified for the NAIA national meet in the 3000-meter run (19th place finish). She also set DSU school records in the 1500, 3000 and 5000-meter runs.
Tvedt began her senior season by capturing the SDIC Cross Country Conference individual championship in the fall of 1997. She went on to run at the national meet where she finished 14th, earning NAIA All-American honors with a time of 18:16.
Amy added another SDIC Indoor Track & Field win in the 400- and 1500-meter runs in 1997. Tvedt was selected as the SDIC Most Valuable Athlete at the conference meet. She finished fifth at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field national meet in the 3000-meter run, earning another NAIA All-American honor. She broke five different school records during the indoor season in the 400, 500, 1500, 1600-meter relay and distance medley relay.
Tvedt completed her amazing outdoor track season by breaking eight different school records in the 400, 800, 1500, 3000, 1600-meter relay, 3200-meter relay and 1600-meter medley relay. She was the SDIC conference champion in the 3000-meter run and qualified for the nationals. Tvedt earned the NAIA Academic All-American honor for her academic success.
Overall, Tvedt accumulated eight SDIC individual conference champions, SDIC All-Conference honors on nine different occurrences, qualified for nationals in each cross country, indoor track and outdoor track from 1995-97, and three-time NAIA All-American honors.
Tvedt was voted as DSU's Most Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year twice in 1996 and 1997. She graduated from Dakota State with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics Education in 1998 and received the Masters' of Science in Technology and Computer Education in 2003.
Tvedt extended her running career as she ran in numerous marathons and DSU cross country home meet as an alumni runner. She currently lives in Clear Lake, S.D. with her husband Brian and their children – Gannon, Tague and Shyla. Amy teaches at Deuel High School since 1998 and has coached in various positions. She is also involved as an advisor in middle school student council and yearbook. She also continues to be an independent web page designer since 2000.
Lorin Larsen (posthumously) - Track & Field
Lorin Larsen is considered one of the best jumpers in Dakota State University track & field program history. Five of the school records he set still stand after 30 years.
Larsen was a graduate of Hurley High School where he was a four-year All-Conference selection in both football and basketball.
At Dakota State, he holds the school record in triple jump with a measurement of 48 feet and 1 inch set in 1983. He added to the school records with a 24 foot, 5 inch long jump, set in 1984. Larsen also ran a leg in the men's record setting 4 x 400-meter relay that set a school record of 3 minutes, 16.40 seconds. He also ran a leg in the 1600-meter relay at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships.
Larsen added two indoor track school records from 1983 – 46 feet, 8.75 inches in the triple jump and 23 feet, 1 inch in the long jump.
Larsen was a four-time Most Valuable Athlete at the South Dakota Intercollegiate (SDIC) conference meet. He qualified for the Outdoor Track National Meet four times and the Indoor Track National Meet three times. He was selected as DSU's Team Captain in 1985.
After graduating from Dakota State University in 1985 with a degree in business, Larsen went to work at KJAM Radio where he worked for 26 years, last as the station manager. He was employed as an account executive for WNAX Radio in Yankton at the time of his death in October, 2012.
Larsen served on the DSU Alumni Association Board of Directors, and was the President at the time of his passing. He was also immediate past chairman of the South Dakota Broadcaster Association.
Larsen officiated high school football and basketball for 27 years, starting in 1985, including state championship games in 2001 and 2009. He also mentored young officials throughout the state.
He was posthumously recognized with the 25-year officiating award at halftime of the Class 9B State Football Championship game in 2012.
Larsen has three daughters – Kelsi, Kristin and Jordyn – and one son – Logan.
Ryan Phillips - Cross Country, Track & Field
Ryan Phillips is considered by his long-time cross country and track and field head coach Buzz Stevenson as one of the finest distance runners at Dakota State University during the late 1980's and early 1990's, a period when DSU won three straight South Dakota-Iowa Conference (SDIC) titles (1989-91).
Back in his years at Dakota State University, Phillips, a Dickinson, N.D. native, was the Trojans' Most Outstanding Male Athlete-of-the-Year as a junior and senior. He was a four-year All-SDIC runner in both cross country and track. He was an NAIA All-American in track his senior season.
As a collegian at Dakota State, Phillips established himself as the Trojans' top male distance runner. His best cross country performance came at the 8K Madison Country Club in the 1992 DSU Invitational where he had a first-place, 25-minute flat finish.
On the outdoor track, Phillips was an NAIA Nationals qualifier in the 1500-meters, where he clocked a career-best 4:01 effort. His personal best 800-meters came earlier in the Sioux City Relays where he turned in a 1:55 performance.
Indoors, he claimed NAIA All-American honors with a sixth-place finish in the 1000-meters in Kansas City, Mo. in 1993.
Stevenson recalled the high level that Phillips had exhibited, especially a time near end of Phillips' impressive collegiate career in the outdoor season of 1993.
Prior to the SDIC conference meet, Phillips was running the 1500-meters race at the University of Mary meet in Bismarck. He was knocked down and suffered a severe ankle injury.
Using crutches on the Monday of the SDIC conference week, Phillips went in the training room three times a day until the Thursday prior to the conference meet. Stevenson remembered that Phillips limped around the track a couple times that day, and then jogged it twice on Friday.
On Saturday at Trojan Field in the SDIC Outdoor Track & Field Conference Championship meet, Phillips went out and won both the 1500- and 800-meter runs and placed third in the 5000-meter run.
From DSU, he went to Wall, S.D. where he taught and coached. Currently, Phillips is a Media Services Program Manager for Technology & Innovations in Education in Rapid City.
Phillips continued to expand his running career where he has competed in numerous of ultramarathons across the country, ranging in distance from 100 miles, 50 miles and 50 kilometers and several mountain bike races.
He earned a spot on the 2013 United State National Snowshoe team by placing fourth at the national championships in Bend, Ore.
Ryan lives in Sturgis, S.D. with his four daughters – Kristen, Brooke, Skyler and Morgan.
Buzz Stevenson - Coaching
Buzz Stevenson, who announced his retirement this spring, has become somewhat of a legend in cross country and track and field at Dakota State University. He had produced top quality student-athletes during his 29 years as the head coach for the Trojans.
Stevenson, a native of Ipswich, S.D., has been coaching high school and college student-athletes for more than 45 years. He graduated from Ipswich High School where he was a three-sport athlete. He was selected as South Dakota High School Football All-State running back. In addition, Stevenson was a star in the 100- and 220-yard races where he placed at the state track meet as a junior and senior.
He continued his education at Yankton College and played football and ran track for a South Dakota legend, Carl Youngworth. He was an All-Conference wide receiver and a member of a track and field team that won two conference championships from 1964-65.
After graduating from Yankton in 1965, Stevenson received his Master of Education degree from South Dakota State University in 1973. He was a high school coach for 14 years, with 10 years at Huron High School. He led the Huron boys' team to their first ever Eastern South Dakota Conference championship. He then guided them to two more conference championships in 1977 and 1978. Stevenson guided his 1977 boys' team to a state runner-up honor, and his girls' cross country team finished as state champions.
He was also a college coach for two seasons at his alma mater prior coming to Dakota State University.
When Stevenson arrived in Madison, Dakota State's mission statement had just changed and the cross country and track and field programs were depleted.
He recalled that he spent hours and hours on the phone trying to convince kids to come to Dakota State University. It was not long until Stevenson started to get recruits in the programs and his teams were able to capture a total of 14 South Dakota-Iowa Conference (SDIC) titles.
In his years at Dakota State University, Stevenson has coached two first-ever national champions in the track and field programs. Desa Rae Doyle was the first-ever female to become a national champion in 2000, as she won the NAIA Women's Indoor Track & Field in the high jump event. Andy Coy became the first male national champion in the 1000-meter run at the 2012 NAIA Indoor Track & Field national meet. Stevenson has coached several national runner-ups.
Over the years, Stevenson has coached a total of 60-plus NAIA All-American status and over 100 All-Conference performances. In addition, he has earned numerous coaching honors. He was the South Dakota High School boys' track and field coach of the year, SDIC coach of the year 14 times and Great Plains Regional Cross Country coach of the year twice.
Stevenson is a member of the Huron High School Hall of Fame and was an honorary referee at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays.
Buzz currently resides in Sioux Falls with his wife Diane of 27 years.
1996-97 Dakota State University Men's Cross Country and Track & Field SDIC Championship Teams
The Dakota State men's cross country and track & field teams owned the South Dakota-Iowa Conference (SDIC) during the 1996-97 season with dominating performances at all three conference meets.
The Trojan Cross Country team began the 1996-97 year by winning the SDIC conference title as five runners placed in the 'Top 10' in the race, scoring 28 points in the race. DSU won the conference title by 33-point margin to the second-place team University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) team with 61 points.
Robert Blasé claimed the individual title with a time of 27 minutes and 34 seconds, followed by his teammate Orlando Velesquez with a time of 27:41.27. John Ecklein added a seventh-place finish in 28:54.70 and Gerald Kubiak an eighth-place finish in 28:59.94. Blasé, Velesquez and Ecklein each earned SDIC All-Conference honors. DSU's head coach Buzz Stevenson was voted the SDIC Cross Country Coach-of-the-Year.
Brian Tvedt was 10th (29:05.69). Mark Stoick ran a time of 29:48.69 to finish 19th, Lance Frohling 28th (30:33.30) and Dominick Damm 29th (30:34.18).
After winning the SDIC Cross Country team title, Dakota State earned an automatic team bid to the NAIA Cross Country National Championships where they placed 17th.
The Trojans won the SDIC Indoor Track & Field Conference Championships in dominating fashion with 144 points. DSU won the team title by a 63-point margin over the second-place team from Black Hills State (S.D.) (81 points), thanks to six event titles and six runner-ups finishes in the meet.
Tvedt, Shane Scholten, Jake Kamps, Ryan Raak and Kurt Wallace were named to the SDIC Indoor Track & Field All-Conference team. A total of 10 DSU athletes – Tvedt, Ecklein, Damm, Kubiak, Blasé, Wallace, Scholten, David Sample, Raak, Kamps and Mark Stoick – qualified for the NAIA Indoor Track & Field national meet. Wallace earned NAIA All-American honors in the men's pentathlon at nationals.
The Trojans broke seven different indoor track records, including three events that were broken by Tvedt. Tvedt ran new school records in the 500-, 800- and 1500-meter runs. The Trojan 4 x 200-meter and 4 x 800-meter relay teams also broke DSU school records.
A pair of DSU school records still stand since 1997 by Scholten in the 55-meter hurdles (7.30 seconds) and Wallace in the pentathlon with 3,606 points.
Dakota State posted another dominating performance as they won the SDIC Outdoor Track & Field Conference title with 141 points, a 41-point rout over second-place BHSU. The Trojans had six event titles and two runners-up honors along with numerous 'Top 6' finishers in the conference meet.
Seven Trojan athletes (Wallace, Tvedt, Scholten, Kubiak, Chad Willard, Kamps and Todd Smidt) earned SDIC All-Conference honors at the conference meet. Wallace was named the SDIC All-Conference Most Valuable Male Athlete.
Four DSU athletes qualified for the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Nationals. They were Kubiak, Tvedt, Scholten and Blasé.
Additionally, four Trojan school records were broken in the outdoor season. Tvedt broke a school record in the 800-meter run and 1500-meter run. Blasé set a new DSU school record in the men's marathon. Scholten still holds the DSU school record in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.30 seconds.
