Deng Deng named NDAPSSA High School Boys Athlete of the Year

The NDAPSSA announced its high school year-end awards Friday morning. Chief among the winners was Four Winds/Minnewaukan’s Deng Deng, who was named the High School Boys Athlete of the Year.

Deng was the second Mr. Basketball winner in his school’s history, averaging 27.2 points per game in his senior year. The Indians were ranked No. 3 during the regular season in their first season competing in Class A. During the football season, Deng averaged 82.5 receiving yards per game. He was named to all-state teams in both sports. He went on to compete in track and field for the first time, where he ended up winning the Class B high jump title.

Deng is committed to play Division I football at the University of North Dakota next fall.

One of the other three finalists was North Star’s Dane Hagler. The four-sport sensation excelled as a quarterback during the fall, including a game where he threw for 484 yards. The number .484 also happened to be his batting average in baseball this spring, where he played shortstop, hit leadoff and was the Bearcats’ best pitcher. During the basketball season, he averaged 21 points per game and achieved 2,000 career points. He led the North Star basketball team to the state championship game, where it lost to Westhope-Newburg. He also competed in track and field at the same time as baseball.

Hagler is currently playing in American Legion Baseball, leading the Cando Post 79 team. He’s committed to continue his baseball career at the University of Jamestown. Despite excelling as both a pitcher and a hitter, his focus is more on the pitching aspect. He’s been reported to run his fastball into the upper 80s, and he complements it with a solid breaking ball. Hagler averaged more than two strikeouts per inning during the spring.

The Devils Lake girls’ basketball team was also represented in these awards. May-Port-C-G, which won the Class B state title, was named the High School Girls Team of the Year, along with the Valley City tennis team. However, the lone additional finalist was Devils Lake girls’ basketball. The Firebirds, of course, won the Class A state title. It ended a 37-year drought.

Devils Lake head girls’ basketball coach Justin Klein was also named a finalist for High School Girls Coach of the Year. The championship was a long time coming for Klein, who led Devils Lake to a state title appearance in 2020 but didn’t get a chance to play that game.

The Firebirds were only ranked in the No. 4-5 range for most of the 2023-24 season, but they caught fire, so to speak, at the perfect time. They were led by freshman Tylie Brodina, who won state tournament MVP.

The winner of High School Girls Coach of the Year was Matt Nielson, the head coach of the Valley City tennis team, which won a state title. There was one other finalist for this award: Keenan Konschak, who coaches both girls’ basketball and softball for May-Port-C-G.