Jeremy Waltner pulls double duty as journalist, father at Class B boys basketball tournament
Mar. 21—ABERDEEN — Jeremy Waltner has been covering South Dakota high school sporting events since the early 1990s, but this weekend's Class B boys basketball tournament is a little bit different for the veteran journalist. Waltner, the publisher of the Freeman Courier weekly newspaper, is making the rounds at Wachs Arena to chronicle Freeman High School's pursuit of a state championship.
At the same time, his son, Oliver, is a prominent member of the Flyers' rotation. It's not a brand new dynamic for the Waltners, but now it's reached one of the biggest stages in South Dakota high school sports, shining a new light on their father-son and reporter-subject relationships. "It means everything to us," said Oliver, a 6-foot-4 junior forward.
"He's covering everything, making videos and putting a lot of time into this. It's just great. " Last season, Freeman qualified for the Class B boys basketball tournament for the first time since 1999, marking a major milestone for the program.
But that version of the Flyers was seeded No. 6 in the bracket, which matched their sixth-place finish. This season, Freeman carried a 19-game win streak into the tournament as the No.
2 seed. With the Flyers as one of the favorites to contend for a title, it's made for an elevated experience for both Oliver on the court and Jeremy close by. Jeremy even added live broadcasting to his repertoire this winter, as he started calling basketball games on the Flyers' YouTube livestreams.
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