Wildcats Softball Named North Dakota Women's Team of the Year

The North Dakota Associated Press has come out with their annual Team, Coach, and Athlete's of the year for both men's and women's sports.  The Wildcats were well represented in softball with Head Coach Mike Oehlke winning the Women's Coach of the Year, and the entire NDSCS Softball team winning Team of the year.  Emma Johnson of the Wildcats was named the NJCAA DIII Player of the Year in 2025 as well.

Female coach: Mike Oehlke, NDSCS

In Mike Oehlke's first season at NDSCS, the Wildcats won four games.

Since then, NDSCS has gone to five consecutive NJCAA Division III World Series, winning national championships in two of the past three seasons.

This spring, they went 54-14-1 and won a national title. It's their second straight 40-win season.

The other finalists were Kevin Gall of Jamestown and Shayne Wittkopp of Dickinson State.

Female team: NDSCS softball

The Wildcats went 45-4-1 over their final 50 games, winning their second national championship in three seasons (2023 and 2025) with a runner-up finish in 2024.

NDSCS beat Patrick & Henry twice to win the title after losing 3-0 earlier in the national tournament.

Ella Stewart and Heeley Taylor each finished with ERAs under 2.00.

The other finalist was Dickinson State track.

Female athlete: Jumoke Adekoye, Dickinson State

Adekoye won all five of her matches in winning the Blue Hawks' first national championship in women's wrestling.

A Nigeria native, Adekoye won the 131-pound title at the NAIA national tournament in Park City, Kan., defeating No. 1 seed Caolina Moreno of Southern Oregon 3-1 in the semifinals and wrapping up the title with a 5-3 victory over Xochitl Mota-Pettis of Missouri Valley in the finals.

Adekoye was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Other finalists were Ashlyn Diemert of Valley City State and Jocelyn Schiller of North Dakota.

Treysen Eaglestaff was at his best on the biggest stages.

He erupted for 40 points against Alabama on a nationally-televised game against Alabama. He went for 51 points in a Summit League tournament win over South Dakota State.

The former North Dakota Mr. Basketball had a big junior season at the University of North Dakota.

Eaglestaff was named the College Male Athlete of the Year in year-end awards presented by the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

Male athlete: Treysen Eaglestaff, UND

Eaglestaff stole the spotlight in North Dakota's non-conference contest against Alabama and fellow former North Dakota Mr. Basketball winner Grant Nelson.

He was the only Division I basketball player last season with multiple 40-point games. He averaged 18.9 points per game while shooting 41.6 percent from the field, 35.9 percent on three-pointers and 79.4 percent on free throws.

He made 84 three-pointers and also put up 31 in a game against Utah Valley.

After the season, he entered the transfer portal and will play next season at West Virginia in the Big 12.

Other finalists were Reece Barnhardt of the University of Mary and Caleb Van De Griend of Minot State.

Male coach: Matt Murken, Minot State

Murken led Minot State's men's basketball team to a school-record 26 wins last season, starting the season 17-0 and reaching No. 4 in the NCAA Division II basketball poll.

The Beavers finished 26-10 and reached the Northern Sun postseason tournament title game before falling to Minnesota State-Moorhead 78-66. Minot State made its first Division II national tournament appearance, falling to Concordia-St. Paul 83-71 in the Central Region quarterfinals.

Murken won 186 games in 13 seasons as head coach at Minot State and has now joined South Dakota as an assistant coach.

Derek Selvig of Dickinson State and Tim Polasek of North Dakota State were also finalists.

Male team: NDSU football

The Bison won their 10th FCS national championship. Cam Miller had 320 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns as No. 2 seed NDSU knocked off top-seeded Montana State 35-32.

NDSU went 14-1, with their two losses coming in the opener to Colorado (31-36) and in the regular-season finale to South Dakota (29-28).

The Bison reeled off playoff wins over Abilene Christian (51-31), Mercer (31-7) and South Dakota State (28-21) to reach the title game.

The other finalists were Minot State basketball and Dickinson State basketball.

(Story from Scott Throlson - Bismarck Tribune Sports Editor)