By Dana Hess
For the S.D. Newspaper Association
PIERRE — On Thursday, Aug. 12, the South Dakota High School Activities Association board of directors welcomed Huron Activities Director Terry Rotert as its newest member.
Rotert will serve for one year, completing the term of former Brookings Activities Director Randy Soma. Soma had to resign from the board when he joined the SDHSAA staff as an assistant executive director.
The other candidate for the one-year term was Spearfish Activities Director Stephanie Ornelas. An initial motion to nominate Ornelas for the position failed on a board vote of 2-5. A motion to nominate Rotert passed on a 6-1 vote.
After his appointment, Rotert joined the board meeting via Zoom.
At the meeting, board chairman Tom Culver of Avon made his annual appointments to the association’s site selection committee. The committee decides which venues will host state tournaments.
Members of the committee include Culver and SDHSAA board members Barry Mann of Wakpala and Marty Weismantel of Groton. Other members of the committee are activities directors from the schools that host the most events. They include Casey Meile of Sioux Falls, Jared Vasquez of Rapid City; Dawn Seiler of Aberdeen, Craig Boyens of Watertown and Bill Freking of Brandon Valley.
The committee will meet in December to work on sites for the 2025-2026 school year.
