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Mar. 21—RAPID CITY — Proud grandparents Mike and Terri Mebius are no strangers to racking up windshield time and watching the odometer as miles steadily tick by as they travel to games and activities for their nine grandchildren.
But by any standards, the journey the Mebius' are taking to close out the 2024-25 winter sports season is a doozy.
Three of Mike and Terri's grandsons are on teams that qualified for South Dakota high school boys basketball state tournaments. The catch? All three are on different teams, all three teams are in different classes, and all three classes have their tournaments in different cities this weekend.
Karter Mebius is a senior for Wessington Springs at the Class B tournament in Aberdeen; Logan Mebius is a junior for O'Gorman at the Class AA tournament in Rapid City; and Connor Mebius is a sophomore for West Central at the Class A tournament in Sioux Falls.
Rather than choose one tournament to attend, Mike and Terri, who reside in Wessington Springs, went all-in on maximizing their support for all three.
With the quarterfinal round tipping off across the state on Thursday, Mike and Terri started their busy sporting weekend at the Class B tournament in Aberdeen, where Karter and Wessington Springs dispatched of Wall in the second game of the afternoon session. They promptly hopped in the vehicle and made the near-five-hour, 330-mile trek to the Summit Arena in Rapid City, making good use of moving to the Mountain time zone, to see Logan and O'Gorman nearly pull off a stunning rally against Harrisburg in the nightcap.
Early Friday morning, they planned to hop on Interstate 90 eastbound for 350 more miles to Sioux Falls in order to watch West Central in the Class A noon consolation game at the Premier Center. Then it's 200 miles back to Wachs Arena in Aberdeen just in time to catch Wessington Springs in the Class B semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday.
That's 850 miles in two tournament days, with one day still ahead. Saturday's schedule is still up in the air, with Friday's results likely to influence the decision.
"It's pretty hectic," Mike said. "It's a lot of fun, though. We really enjoy watching them play."
Basketball is perhaps the pillar sport in the Mebius households. Mike played for Wessington Springs in high school and later Dakota Wesleyan University, and all three of his sons also suited up for Springs. All nine of Mike and Terri's grandchildren, ranging from third grade to high school senior, currently play some level of organized basketball, too.
"Basketball's just a big thing in the Mebius family," Connor said.
For the trio of grandsons, this weekend presents a unique and certainly memorable opportunity to try and add to the family's hoops legacy.
"Honestly, it's really cool. I don't know if it's ever been done before, so it's just nice to think about," Karter said. "But at the same time, it sucks because we can't go and watch each other's games."
Prior to the state tournaments, Mike and Terri had been to 79 basketball games for their grandkids this winter. On a couple of occasions, they were able to watch Connor and West Central on a Friday night, stay overnight and then watch Logan and O'Gorman on Saturday, but getting to multiple games so far apart in a single day is something new.
Mike and Terri's basketball travels this winter covered approximately 6,700 miles prior to the state tournaments. For context, that's the equivalent of driving I-90 end-to-end — Seattle to Boston — and back, with enough mileage left over to head south on I-5 from Seattle and get as far as Sacramento.
If they manage two games each day of the tournaments, that will run their tally to 85 contests attended and somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 miles traveled.
"We love our grandkids, and they're fun to watch," Mike said. "We're here to support them and wish them all the best of luck."
Reporters Trent Singer and Nathan Swaffar contributed to this story.
Continue reading...
But by any standards, the journey the Mebius' are taking to close out the 2024-25 winter sports season is a doozy.
Three of Mike and Terri's grandsons are on teams that qualified for South Dakota high school boys basketball state tournaments. The catch? All three are on different teams, all three teams are in different classes, and all three classes have their tournaments in different cities this weekend.
Karter Mebius is a senior for Wessington Springs at the Class B tournament in Aberdeen; Logan Mebius is a junior for O'Gorman at the Class AA tournament in Rapid City; and Connor Mebius is a sophomore for West Central at the Class A tournament in Sioux Falls.
Rather than choose one tournament to attend, Mike and Terri, who reside in Wessington Springs, went all-in on maximizing their support for all three.
With the quarterfinal round tipping off across the state on Thursday, Mike and Terri started their busy sporting weekend at the Class B tournament in Aberdeen, where Karter and Wessington Springs dispatched of Wall in the second game of the afternoon session. They promptly hopped in the vehicle and made the near-five-hour, 330-mile trek to the Summit Arena in Rapid City, making good use of moving to the Mountain time zone, to see Logan and O'Gorman nearly pull off a stunning rally against Harrisburg in the nightcap.
Early Friday morning, they planned to hop on Interstate 90 eastbound for 350 more miles to Sioux Falls in order to watch West Central in the Class A noon consolation game at the Premier Center. Then it's 200 miles back to Wachs Arena in Aberdeen just in time to catch Wessington Springs in the Class B semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday.
That's 850 miles in two tournament days, with one day still ahead. Saturday's schedule is still up in the air, with Friday's results likely to influence the decision.
"It's pretty hectic," Mike said. "It's a lot of fun, though. We really enjoy watching them play."
Basketball is perhaps the pillar sport in the Mebius households. Mike played for Wessington Springs in high school and later Dakota Wesleyan University, and all three of his sons also suited up for Springs. All nine of Mike and Terri's grandchildren, ranging from third grade to high school senior, currently play some level of organized basketball, too.
"Basketball's just a big thing in the Mebius family," Connor said.
For the trio of grandsons, this weekend presents a unique and certainly memorable opportunity to try and add to the family's hoops legacy.
"Honestly, it's really cool. I don't know if it's ever been done before, so it's just nice to think about," Karter said. "But at the same time, it sucks because we can't go and watch each other's games."
Prior to the state tournaments, Mike and Terri had been to 79 basketball games for their grandkids this winter. On a couple of occasions, they were able to watch Connor and West Central on a Friday night, stay overnight and then watch Logan and O'Gorman on Saturday, but getting to multiple games so far apart in a single day is something new.
Mike and Terri's basketball travels this winter covered approximately 6,700 miles prior to the state tournaments. For context, that's the equivalent of driving I-90 end-to-end — Seattle to Boston — and back, with enough mileage left over to head south on I-5 from Seattle and get as far as Sacramento.
If they manage two games each day of the tournaments, that will run their tally to 85 contests attended and somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 miles traveled.
"We love our grandkids, and they're fun to watch," Mike said. "We're here to support them and wish them all the best of luck."
Reporters Trent Singer and Nathan Swaffar contributed to this story.
Continue reading...
