There aren't too many athletes that have come out of Sioux Falls with more national and international acclaim and achievement than O'Gorman alumnus Bergen Reilly.
And she just turned 20 last month.
A two-time All-American on two NCAA Final Four teams at four-time national champion Nebraska, Reilly is the first player in Big Ten volleyball history to be the league's Setter of the Year in each of her first two seasons. She's also a four-time member of USA teams, including the 2022 national team as 17-year-old.
So what is life like at the top level of her sport in a place where volleyball players are "celebrities" and to come back home a newfound celebrity, spawning thousands of new Nebraska volleyball fans in South Dakota?
What kind of NIL deals does she have, and what opportunities — fun and (literally) taxing — has that afforded her?
What is it like to play in front of 92,000 fans — blasting the record for the largest crowd to witness a women's sport in United States history — in one of college football's most hallowed stadiums? And how does she feel when people tell her she plays at a "volleyball schoool?"
And how, in any way, are these sort of experiences similar to her existence at O'Gorman, where Reilly was a three-time Gatorade South Dakota Player of the Year and two-time state champion, plus a state basketball champ her senior season?
Reilly remained delightful in answering all those questions in a 42-minute chat with Happy Hour host John Gaskins, but seemed to relish most the chance to talk about her relationship with older sister Raegan, whose Div. I volleyball career just ended with Big Ten rival Illinois in a season that included two showdowns with the long-time teammate sisters staring each other across the net.
Before that...
Yes, it's a BIG deal. How big? Well...
Minnesota's top-rated high school football player in the Class of 2026 and the No. 12-rated "athlete" nationally announced he will be a Golden Gopher.
That's enough to bring some pandemonium to Dinkytown and "Gopher Nation." But the fact Jackson County Central's Roman Voss chose Minnesota over Alabama? Throw a parade!
Or not.
Gaskins breaks down the relevance of this commitment, which includes insight into why Voss chose the Gophers from Kurtiss Riggs, who has worked with Voss at the Sanford Sports Academy in Sioux Falls the last three years. (Jackson is about 90 miles from Sioux Falls.)
So how strong and immediate of an impact can Voss be? How impressed should we be by Fleck's landing the No. 1 prospect in Minnesota each of the last three years, and should the Gophers' expectations be higher than the Quick Lane Bowl and Duke Mayo Bowl?
Another "how big of a deal" news item — Aaron Rodgers announcing today that 2025 will probably be his last NFL season.
The announcement may not be big — he's 41 and it may not turn out to be true — but that should make 2025 an even bigger season for a couple of South Dakota college stars-turned-Steelers: SDSU's Mason McCormick and USD's J.J. Galbreath.
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By John Gaskins
5
1919 ratings
There aren't too many athletes that have come out of Sioux Falls with more national and international acclaim and achievement than O'Gorman alumnus Bergen Reilly.
And she just turned 20 last month.
A two-time All-American on two NCAA Final Four teams at four-time national champion Nebraska, Reilly is the first player in Big Ten volleyball history to be the league's Setter of the Year in each of her first two seasons. She's also a four-time member of USA teams, including the 2022 national team as 17-year-old.
So what is life like at the top level of her sport in a place where volleyball players are "celebrities" and to come back home a newfound celebrity, spawning thousands of new Nebraska volleyball fans in South Dakota?
What kind of NIL deals does she have, and what opportunities — fun and (literally) taxing — has that afforded her?
What is it like to play in front of 92,000 fans — blasting the record for the largest crowd to witness a women's sport in United States history — in one of college football's most hallowed stadiums? And how does she feel when people tell her she plays at a "volleyball schoool?"
And how, in any way, are these sort of experiences similar to her existence at O'Gorman, where Reilly was a three-time Gatorade South Dakota Player of the Year and two-time state champion, plus a state basketball champ her senior season?
Reilly remained delightful in answering all those questions in a 42-minute chat with Happy Hour host John Gaskins, but seemed to relish most the chance to talk about her relationship with older sister Raegan, whose Div. I volleyball career just ended with Big Ten rival Illinois in a season that included two showdowns with the long-time teammate sisters staring each other across the net.
Before that...
Yes, it's a BIG deal. How big? Well...
Minnesota's top-rated high school football player in the Class of 2026 and the No. 12-rated "athlete" nationally announced he will be a Golden Gopher.
That's enough to bring some pandemonium to Dinkytown and "Gopher Nation." But the fact Jackson County Central's Roman Voss chose Minnesota over Alabama? Throw a parade!
Or not.
Gaskins breaks down the relevance of this commitment, which includes insight into why Voss chose the Gophers from Kurtiss Riggs, who has worked with Voss at the Sanford Sports Academy in Sioux Falls the last three years. (Jackson is about 90 miles from Sioux Falls.)
So how strong and immediate of an impact can Voss be? How impressed should we be by Fleck's landing the No. 1 prospect in Minnesota each of the last three years, and should the Gophers' expectations be higher than the Quick Lane Bowl and Duke Mayo Bowl?
Another "how big of a deal" news item — Aaron Rodgers announcing today that 2025 will probably be his last NFL season.
The announcement may not be big — he's 41 and it may not turn out to be true — but that should make 2025 an even bigger season for a couple of South Dakota college stars-turned-Steelers: SDSU's Mason McCormick and USD's J.J. Galbreath.
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