MARSHALL, Minn. – The National Wheelchair Basketball Association announced this past weekend that Southwest Minnesota State University player/head coach Derek Klinkner has been awarded the Frank Brasile Sportsmanship award for the 2013-14 season.
The award’s namesake, Frank Brasile, is a former commissioner in the Intercollegiate Division of the NWBA. He has been active in the sport for decades. The award is voted upon by the head coaches in the NWBA college division.
Klinkner, a native of Artesian, helped SMSU to a sixth-place finish last weekend at the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in Arlington, Tex. He also recently completed his first full season as interim head coach for the Mustang program.
Klinkner is the second SMSU player to receive the award in recent years. Kyle Timmerman, a native of Minneota, Minn., earned the award in both 2010 and 2011.
Southwest Minnesota State finished the 2013-14 season with an overall record of 15-17.

An aerial search was conducted by state officials Thursday afternoon in the case of the Woonsocket woman who has been missing since November.
The recent snowmelt coupled with a warm, clear day provided a good opportunity for a search, but failed to unearth any leads.
Sheriff Tom Fridley said a state helicopter and crew flew for three hours in a grid pattern between Woonsocket and Huron, fueled up in Huron and returned to Pierre. He said they were looking for any sort of anomaly to the natural environment, but could see nothing unusual.
He said they wanted to do a second aerial search now with the ground snowless, brown and sparse before spring growth covered anything up. An unfruitful airplane search was also conducted a few weeks ago while there was still snow cover.
Thirty-year-old Rachel Cyriacks was last seen mid-November at her job at Performance Pet Products in Mitchell.
The pickup she was thought to have been driving, a silver Chevy, was taken into custody in January and was found to have significant damage to the undercarriage. Police are suspicious this damage is relevant to Cyriacks’ disappearance.
The pickup was recovered from a residence in Huron where Cyriacks’ husband, Bradley, was living. Cyriacks had filed a protection order against Bradley last August.
Dogs have also previously been used to look for Cyriacks, but authorities have had no strong leads in the case, so have been unable to narrow the search area enough to do much looking on the ground. Sheriff Fridley says they could be looking at an area stretching from Huron to Sioux Falls, as Cyriacks frequented all of those areas.
Cyriacks’ family is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to finding her.
Fridley says he is hoping that as the weather warms up and people get outside on their properties that something may turn up. People are asked to report anything they see that seems unusual.
Cyriacks is 5-foot 5-inches tall and about 140  pounds, brown hair and several identifying tattoos.
The Sanborn County Sheriff’s office asks that people call them at 605-796-4511 with any information that may pertain to Cyriacks’ disappearance and/or help with her recovery.

    Shelby Selland, senior at Sanborn Central and leader of the state second place Lady Blackhawks team, was honored during halftime of the championship game that she was playing in, with the prestigious Spirit of Su award.
There is no disputing she deserved the award. “She is a super individual and a class act,” said Co-Head Coach Tim McCain of Shelby during Sunday’s welcome home event.
The Spirit of Su is given annually to one senior player at each class level of the state tournament who exemplifies excellence on and off the court. The player chosen for the award must exhibit athletic ability, sportsmanship, leadership, good character and academic ability.
She must be All-State caliber, an all-around team player and a standout on offense and defense; she must have great sportsmanship, acting in a respectful manner with officials, opponents, teammates and fans; exhibit leadership, having earned respect from teammates, opponents and fans; interact positively with students and adults, displaying self-discipline, high ethics and act as a positive role model; and she must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale.
The Spirit of Su is in honor of SuAnne Big Crow, who was killed in a car accident driving to the 1992 Miss Basketball Awards Banquet in Huron during her senior year at Pine Ridge High School.
SuAnne stood against drugs and alcohol and became a role model in her community, all while maintaining nearly a 4.0 grade point average.
Shelby received a plaque and a quilt with four ribbons, representing different races as a symbol of peace and community among people from all races.