By Rich Winter

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS — Clark/Willow Lake junior Levi Atkins enjoyed a moment at Saturday’s Class A state tournament he won’t soon forget. 

The junior had been absent from school and the team for the entire season, until Saturday. 

“I have been in the hospital for basically the last seven months,” he said. “I had leukemia with a type of blood cancer so I’ve been in and out of the hospital for the last seven months.”

Atkins was recently cleared to go back home and he didn’t waste one precious second of his state tournament opportunity Saturday. Atkins was able to get in the layup line and warm up with his teammates who were getting ready to take on Groton Area for seventh place in the Class A state tournament.

The Cyclones finished eighth and Atkins was able to receive a medal as a member of the 2024/2025 state qualifying basketball team. 

The moment on the court is something he will never forget. 

“It was surreal,” he said. “It was great to be back, it really was. To be here and to be at the state tournament is something I never could have imagined."

Clark/Willow Lake junior Levi Atkins receives his eighth place medal from the 2025 Class A state tournament - Libby Stene / 605 Sports