By Rich Winter

605 Sports

ABERDEEN — You can’t have a state tournament appearance for Wessington Springs without at least one Mebius being part of that team.

When the 2023-24 Wessington Springs team punched its ticket to the state tournament, folks in the small town, population 781, began reminiscing about the other times the Spartans made a state tournament.

In 1967, the Spartans qualified for the state tournament for the first time. Two members of that team started a historical connection that runs through the program. Mike Mebius and Larry Olson were on that 1967 team.

Twenty-seven-years later, the Spartans made another run but this time to the Class A state tournament in 1994. Mike Mebius and Larry Olson both had sons on that team in Aaron Olson and Darrin Mebius.

That trip to the 1994 state tournament was no accident and the Spartans  had to fight for that berth the entirety of their high school careers. 

“Our sophomore year we had a pretty good season but that year we got beat by Miller,” Darrin Mebius said. “Our junior year we weren’t very good, had a lot of injuries and won just five games.”

The first time Wessington Springs qualified for the state boys basketball tournament was 1967 - Courtesy photo

Mebius was a three-year starter and he noted that five win junior season didn’t sit well with him or any of his classmates and started playing night basketball.

“You grow up in a small town and you have been with these kids all your life,” said. “We made a commitment that summer and we worked. We did team camps and we had open gyms and had teams from all over that were coming to compete in our open gym.”

A bunch of the kids that played on the 1994 team were multi-sport athletes. When the baseball season ended, Mebius said there wasn’t a lot to do so the kids played night basketball at the park.

“You had to put a quarter in to get the lights to turn on,” Mebius said. 

Starters for the 1994 Spartans were Darrin Mebius, Cole Hurley, Cory Van Bockern, Shane Speck and Aaron Olson. Key reserves on that team were Casey Scott and Brian Fischer.

The 1994 team was coached by Mike Michaelson who was a teacher and later coached at Yankton.

Mebius was the standout on the 1994 team, averaging close to 23 points per game and was named to the Class A all-state first team that year.

Wessington Springs played Madison in the first round that year of the 1994 tournament in the No. 4 vs. No. 5 seed game. 

“The Sioux Falls Arena was packed that night and I remember Kyle Stratton didn’t miss a single shot in the second half,” Mebuis said.

The Spartans lost to Madison by three points and then lost to Belle Fourche by two the next night in a game that wasn’t decided until the final moments. Wessington Springs finished seventh that year defeating Cheyenne-Eagle Butte 60-48 in their final game.

Mebius went on to star at Dakota Wesleyan where he was a four-year starter. He was an first-team all-conference player as a junior and was an honorable mention All-American his senior season. 

More history will be made this weekend as the Mebius family makes another state tournament appearance when junior Karter Mebius, Darrin’s nephew, hits the floor.