DSU Athletics honors 2025-26 annual award winners
August 5, 2026
MADISON, S.D. – On Monday, Dakota State University Athletics announced the recipients of its 2025-26 annual athletics awards, including Outstanding Male and Female Athlete of the Year and the Robert "Dusty" Andersen Memorial Award.
Tabor Teel of the women's basketball team was selected as the DSU Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year.
Teel concluded an impressive career at Dakota State University by earning NAIA First Team All-America honors, NAIA National Tournament Second Team recognition, Frontier Conference Player of the Year, Frontier Conference First Team All-Conference, and Frontier Conference All-Defensive Team accolades.
Dakota State made another historic postseason run, advancing to the NAIA National Semifinals for the second time in the past four seasons. The Trojans finished with a 30-6 overall record, setting a school record for most wins in a single season. DSU also captured the inaugural Frontier Conference regular-season championship with a 19-3 conference mark and hosted the NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship Opening Round for the third consecutive year at the DSU Fieldhouse. The Trojans have now advanced to the NAIA National Tournament in six straight seasons since 2020.
Teel became just the second player in program history during the NAIA Division I era to earn back-to-back All-America honors, joining Jessi Giles, who was named First Team All-America in 2021 and Second Team All-America in 2022.
She produced one of the most remarkable single seasons in Dakota State women's basketball history, setting school records for points scored (606) and rebounds (379). She surpassed Giles' previous scoring record of 603 points set during the 2021-22 season and broke Julie Fiegen's rebounding record of 283 rebounds established in 1985-86. Teel also ranked second in school history for field goals made in a season with 235 and is tied for 10th in single-season free throws made with 99, matching Dawn Gaffney's total from 1997-98.
Teel started all 36 games for the Trojans this season. She was named a conference Player of the Year for the second straight season, earning Frontier Conference honors this year after receiving North Star Athletic Association Player of the Year recognition in 2024-25. She averaged 16.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game while recording 21 double-doubles. Teel shot 235-of-472 from the field for 49.8 percent.
A native of Colton, S.D., Teel graduated in May with a degree in business marketing.
The DSU Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year goes to Tysen Grinde of the men's track & field team.
Grinde has established himself as one of Dakota State's most decorated multi-event athletes and high jumpers. During the 2025-26 season, he earned NAIA All-America honors in both the indoor and outdoor multi-events, as well as All-America recognition in the indoor high jump.
During the indoor season, Grinde tied the school high jump record of 2.08 meters (6 feet, 9.75 inches), matching the mark set by Doug Vlasman in 1985 at the Mount Marty (S.D.) Opener on Jan. 10.
He placed second in the heptathlon at the Frontier Conference Indoor Championships with 5,005 points. Grinde also captured the conference high jump title after clearing 2.04 meters (6 feet, 8.25 inches). He finished fourth in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.45 meters (14 feet, 7.25 inches) and placed eighth in the 60-meter hurdles final in 9.09 seconds after posting a personal best time of 8.78 seconds in the preliminaries.
As a result, Grinde shared Frontier Conference Indoor Field Athlete of the Meet honors after scoring 23 points in field events.
He competed in both the heptathlon and high jump at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Gainesville, Fla. Grinde placed sixth in the heptathlon with a personal-best and second-best mark in school history of 5,181 points. His performance was highlighted by a career-best pole vault clearance of 4.55 meters (14 feet, 11 inches), which tied the indoor school record set by Treshawn Roberts in 2024. He also cleared 1.99 meters (6 feet, 6.25 inches) in the high jump to earn a fifth-place finish.
It marked the fifth consecutive year that Dakota State had a heptathlon athlete earn NAIA All-America honors. It was also the third straight year that the Trojans had an athlete earn two NAIA All-America awards at the same indoor national championship meet, joining Chantz Minear (2024 and 2025 in the heptathlon and 60-meter hurdles) and Cody Farland (4x800-meter relay and 1-mile run).
During the outdoor season, Grinde placed third in the decathlon at the Frontier Conference Outdoor Championships with 6,667 points. He also won the high jump title after clearing 2.01 meters (6 feet, 7 inches), completing a sweep of the conference high jump championships during both the indoor and outdoor seasons.
After sitting in 14th place following the first three events on the opening day, Grinde rallied to finish fourth overall. He earned his second consecutive NAIA All-America honor in the decathlon and his fourth career All-America award at Dakota State. Grinde also became just the second athlete in DSU men's outdoor track & field history to earn multiple NAIA All-America honors in the decathlon, joining Treshawn Roberts (2022 and 2024).
Grinde, a native of Spring Grove, Minn., majors in computer science.
The 2026 Dusty Andersen Memorial Award recipient is Brayden Pankonen of the Dakota State men's basketball team. He becomes the first Trojan men's basketball player to receive the honor since 2020.
The award is presented annually to an outstanding male basketball or baseball student-athlete who demonstrates active participation in campus activities. The award is named in honor of Dusty Andersen, a letterwinner in both basketball and baseball at Dakota State from 1966 to 1969.
In addition to his athletic accomplishments, Andersen was actively involved on campus, serving as President of the Varsity Club and participating in Student Senate, the band, and the physical education majors club.
Outside of his impact on the basketball court, Pankonen has been recognized twice as a conference Champions of Character recipient, earning the honor in the North Star Athletic Association during the 2024-25 season and again in the inaugural Frontier Conference season in 2025-26. He is also an active member of the men's basketball "Hoops Family" and its community support initiatives and is the recipient of the Home Court Endowed Scholarship.
Academically, Pankonen has been named to the Dakota State Dean's List five times over the past six semesters. He is a two-time College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District® selection, a Frontier Conference Academic All-Conference honoree, a two-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete, and was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honor Court during the 2024-25 season. He was also a member of the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award-winning squad in 2024-25.
On the court, Pankonen was named the North Star Athletic Association Freshman of the Year in 2023-24 and earned All-Conference Honorable Mention honors in 2024-25. During his career at Dakota State, he started every game except one.
Pankonen has played 87 career games for the Trojans since the 2023-24 season, averaging 9.8 points per game, while scoring 856 career points. He made 187 3-pointers, ranking third all-time in the Dakota State men's basketball record book. He also ranks seventh in program history in 3-point field goal percentage at 39.3 percent (187-of-476).
Defensively, Pankonen recorded 125 career steals, placing him fifth on Dakota State's all-time steals list. He is also tied for eighth in school history for steals in a single game with six against Trinity Bible (N.D.) on Nov. 4.
Pankonen, a native of Dell Rapids, S.D., is a junior business finance major.