It was a successful outing for the Dakota Valley varsity teams as both the girls and boys ran well and came home runner-ups from the Vermillion Invite on Monday, Oct. 3. Sophomore Jack Brown placed 2nd for the boys and ran an incredible race against Beresford’s Andrew Atwood. Brown ran his race in 16:46 on The Bluff’s Golf Course. In the past this race has been run across from the University of South Dakota’s DakotaDome. Brown has set the bar high by registering the top DV time at Vermillion for The Bluff’s 5K.

The Dakota Valley girls soccer team advanced to the state playoffs as a #6 seed to go up against #3 seed Sioux Falls Christian on Tuesday, Oct. 4. This would be the 3rd meeting for the 2 schools and in previous match-ups the Panthers had fallen in close games both times to the Chargers.

The Dakota Valley cross country team has looked strong all season and the DAK-12 conference meet at Elk Point on Thursday, October 6th was no exception for this talented group of runners. Both the girls and boys varsity squads took home 3rd place in an extremely competitive conference with multiple individual medal winners and personal record bests achieved.

The Panther competitive cheer team had an impressive showing at Brandon Valley on Tuesday, Oct. 4. The squad went up against a number of bigger Class AA schools, as well as some strong competitors from Class A.

The squad for Dakota Valley dance travelled to Brandon Valley High School Tuesday, Oct. 4 to take on multiple Class AA and Class A districts in competition.

The Panther varsity golf team travelled to Aberdeen, SD on Oct. 3 and 4 to take part in the Class A state golf tourney held at Moccasin Creek Country Club. The Dakota Valley golfers played well and tied for 3rd place as a team out of 12 competing schools. Two players, Logan Collette and Dylan Lukken, brought home individual medals as the two young men tied for 14th place.

It was a runaway win, after a long road trip, for Dakota Valley as the varsity roster took down Lakota Tech in football on Friday, Oct. 7. The Panthers put up big numbers in the end zone while shutting out their opponent. The final score under the Friday night lights was 49-0 in favor of the Panthers.

It was a busy week of volleyball for the Panthers as they travelled to Dell Rapids Oct. 3 and hosted Madison Oct. 6. Both matches went in favor of Dakota Valley as the varsity squad continues to show dominance. They are currently ranked #2 in Class A behind #1 Sioux Falls Christian.

The Panther volleyball team took their talent to Hull, IA for the Western Christian Volleyball Invite Saturday, Oct. 8. A full day of competitive games were had by the team who finished the day 3-1. “ A day of great competition, the Panthers ended up 3-1 losing to highly rated Denver whose record is 44-3,” Coach Mary Miller stated. “We finished first in our pool and lost in the quarterfinal round.” The first match of the invite had Dakota Valley facing off against Sioux City East in what was described as a “friendly rivalry” by coach Miller. The Black Raiders beat the Panthers last year, but there was no repeat for East as Dakota Valley was victorious in two sets 21-18 and 21-- 13. Sophomore Addie Kleis led in kills for this match with 7, while junior Sophie Tuttle added 6 and senior Jorja VanDenHul put down 5. Logan Miller dished out 23 assists and Kate VanRooyan had a good match from the serving line to record 2 aces.

The last home game and season match-up for the Dakota Valley boys varsity soccer squad was Thursday, Sept. 29 versus West Central. The Panthers took on the Trojans at home and also celebrated their lone senior, Aiden Vande Zande, for senior night.