2021 Dakota State University Athletics Annual Awards
Alex Derr (2021) - Cross Country, Track & Field (Outstanding Male Athlete)
Alex Derr swept the North Star Athletic Association's most valuable athlete honor in cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field.
Derr dominated the NSAA men's cross country 8K race at the Madison Country Club, fueling the Trojans to its three-peat conference title for the first time since 1989-91 (former South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference). He posted a time of 27 minutes, 22.75 seconds in the race held at the Madison Country Club.
Derr scored 22.5 points in the North Star Indoor Track & Field conference meet to claim the most valuable athlete of the meet honor. He won a pair of individual titles, winning the 600-meter run in 1 minute, 22.55 seconds, and the 800-meter run in 1 minute, 59.40 seconds.
He anchored the Trojans' winning 4 x 400-meter relay team with a time of 3 minutes, 25.39 seconds. Derr collected his first NAIA All-American accolade at the indoor track & field national championships, finishing fourth in the 800-meter run finals with a time of 1 minute, 53.73 seconds.
Derr shared the NSAA Outdoor Track Athlete of the Meet award with Brenner Furlong after each scored 23 points in the conference meet. Derr won the 1500-meter run time and earned runner-up finish in the 800-meter run. He anchored the Trojans' winning 4 x 800-meter and 4 x 400-meter relay titles.
Derr closed out his stellar running career at Dakota State after earning his second NAIA All-American honor at the outdoor track & field national championships. The foursome of Furlong, Derr, Riley Greenhoff, and Joshua Snook become the first 4 x 400-meter relay team to claim the NAIA All-America honor, finishing sixth in the national finals.
Derr amassed a total of 19 NSAA All-Conference honors at DSU. He tallied nine All-Conference honors in outdoor track, eight All-Conference indoor, and two All-Conference cross country.
Derr made 10 different NAIA national appearances during his career at Dakota State (3 times outdoor, 4 times indoor, and 3 times cross country). He also earned Daktronics-NAIA national and North Star Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete awards for his academic success in the classroom.
Alex is the son of Joe and Kathy Derr of Sioux Falls, S.D. He is a graduate student, majoring in Master of Computer Science at Dakota State.
Jessi Giles (2021) - Basketball and Track & Field (Outstanding Female Athlete)
Jessi Giles was voted as the DSU Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year. She was the first Trojan women's basketball athlete to be named to NAIA All-America First Team in program history.
She was an integral member of the DSU women's basketball team to one of the best squads in school history. The Trojans finished their season with an impressive overall record of 27-4 and a perfect 14-0 North Star Athletic Association conference record. Dakota State holds the school record of 23-game winning streak before the top-ranked Thomas More (Ky.) ended their historic run in the NAIA national quarterfinals at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, on March 20.
The Trojans made their first NAIA national tournament trip since 2008 – their seventh appearance in the national tournament in program history. The 2020-21 DSU women's basketball squad also made to the national quarterfinals for the third time in school history.
DSU broke the school record of 27 victories in a single season, previously held by the 1999-00 team with 25 overall victories. The Trojans also swept both North Star Athletic Association conference regular-season and postseason titles for the first time since 2005-06 season.
It was the second straight year that Giles was listed on the NAIA Women's Basketball All-America list (honorable mention in NAIA Division II last season).
Giles was selected to the North Star Athletic Association Women's Basketball Player-of-the-Year and First Team All-Conference. She finished the season with an average of 17.2 points per game (533 total points – third most single-season points in school history).
She was third in the NAIA in total scoring for the Trojans. She was ninth in the nation with 74 3-point field goals made and 11th in 3-point field goal percentage (45.7 percent—74-of-162 3-point field goals). She also shot 53.7 percent from the field (187-of-348 field goals.
Giles accumulated a total of 1,352 points during her career at Dakota State, currently sixth all-time scoring in the school record book. She ranks eighth all-time in field goals made (482 field goals) and fourth in 3-point field goals made (165).
Giles was the top NAIA scorer in the NAIA Women's Basketball National Tournament Opening Round's championship game with 36 points in Trojans' 77-66 victory over Providence (Mont.) in Omaha, Neb. on March 13. She hit double digits in scoring 29 times this season.
She was named to the North Star Athletic Association Women's Basketball All-Conference for three consecutive years (2019 – second team; 2020 and 2021 – first team).
Giles also competed for DSU women's outdoor track & field team. She collected four NSAA All-Conference allocates at the recent conference championship meet last May in Forest City, Iowa. She was a member of the winning 4 x 400-meter relay team at the conference meet with Jennifer Giles, Shaylee DeBeer and Kezley Yeager.
The Trojan women's outdoor track & field team racked up a school record 200 points to finish runner-up in the 2021 NSAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Giles totaled six North Star Outdoor Track & Field All-Conference honors, which included the champions in the 4 x 400-meter relay and heptathlon (school record holder with 3,593 points) in 2019 conference meet held in Dickinson, N.D.
Giles also received Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete, North Star Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete, and CoSIDA academic awards for DSU.
Jessi is the daughter of Chris and Karen Giles of Madison. She is a junior English for new media major at Dakota State University.
Samuel Drummond (2021) - Baseball (Dusty Andersen Award)
Samuel Drummond of Dakota State baseball program is the 2021 recipient for the Dusty Andersen Memorial Award.
The award is presented each year to an outstanding male basketball or baseball player who exhibits active participation in campus activities. The award is named Dusty Andersen, who was a letter-winner in both basketball and baseball at Dakota State from 1966 through 1969. In addition to his athletic involvement, Dusty was active as President of the Varsity Club and was a member of the Student Senate, the band, and the physical education major club.
Drummond played outfield for the Trojans, where he was one of the four outfielders to be selected to the North Star Athletic Association Baseball All-Conference First Team. He posted a batting average of .364 by going 55-of-151 at the plate, tying for the fifth-best overall batting average in the league.
He played in 41 games in 2021. He scored 36 runs, hit 11 doubles, and smashed seven home runs. He drove in 34 runs and tallied 87 total bases. He registered a slugging percentage of .576.
Drummond was second in the league with 1.34 hits per game for the Trojans. He led the team in NSAA conference with .377 batting average in 28 league games (40-of-106 at-bats). He recorded 11 doubles and five home runs during the North Star conference contests. Drummond registered a slugging percentage of .623 in NSAA play.
He registered a fielding percentage of .974 with 78 total chances (74 put-outs, 2 assists, 2 errors) for DSU.
Drummond finished his four-year career with 128 games played at Dakota State. He was 125-of-422 at the plate (.296 batting average) and a slugging percentage of .431. He also recorded a career fielding percentage of .968 (189 total chances, 167 put-outs, 16 assists, and 6 errors).
Drummond did research with Dakota State University's science department. He presented a paper at the first-ever Dakota State-NSASA JPL Mini Workshop on Origins of Life in Prebiotic Planetary Environments. He also presented to Ph.D.-level scientists.
In addition to his continued research in astrobiology, Drummond was awarded a student mentored research initiative in computational physics. He had presented some of his research at the 5th International Congress on Astrobiology last November. For more information about Drummond's research, click here.
Samuel is the son of Edward and Merryn Drummond of Melbourne, Australia. He is a senior physical science/physics major at DSU. He was also selected to the NSAA Baseball's Champions of Character recipient.
