By Rich Winter

Fresh off a SoDak 16 appearance in 2021, the Rapid City Christian boys basketball team heads to Lakota Nation Invitational as one of the new entrants in this year’s field. The Comets went 16-6 in 2020-2021 losing to Dell Rapids, 68-54. 

“We are very excited for the new season and the opportunity to begin our first season as a member of the Black Hills Conference,” Comets coach Kyle Courtney. “We play a challenging schedule this year in our conference and we think it will be a great opportunity for our school to participate in the Lakota Nation Invitational.” 

The Comets return three starters from last season in seniors Jackson DiBona, Trace Trainor and Mitch Heidecker. The first two players off the bench from last year also return as seniors Carson Glassbrenner and Avery Wipf are back. Wipf is out for the start of the season following a football injury. 

Courtney noted junior Sam Fischer and sophomore Wilson Kieffer also return with varsity experience. 

“We return a solid core of players and have good numbers throughout our program,” he said. “We are looking for veteran leadership from our senior class and we anticipate strong competition for spots and playing time. 

Promising prospects:  Elijah Hoyt (Jr.), Benson Kieffer (Fr.), Julius Frog (Fr.), and Simon Kieffer (Fr.) look to push for playing time at the Varsity level.

“If we can focus on the right things every day and develop the kind of leadership and chemistry we need I think we have a chance to be pretty solid by the end of the year,” he said. 

The Comets open their season Dec. 11 vs. Douglas and will play Marty at the Lakota Nation Invitational on Dec. 15. Rapid City Christian is the No. 8 overall seed at the LNI and faces top seeded White River when bracket play begins Dec. 16. 

Additional season thoughts: