Gillingham commits to Dakota State basketball, track teams
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MARSHALL -- Paige Gillingham signed her letter of intent on Wednesday morning to continue her career as a two-sport athlete at Dakota State university in the fall. Gillingham competed for both the Marshall girls basketball team and track and field team, and will continue to pursue both sports for the Trojans.
"Madison [South Dakota] just felt like home there. Everything was nice, it wasn't too big, wasn't too small," Gillingham said. "The coaches were extremely nice, [associate head track and field coach Alex] Glover was great, helped me through the whole process. [Assistant womens basketball coach Jacob] Leier, too, and [head girls basketball coach David] Moe, they all kind of made it feel like home."
Gillingham said that she first started to view collegiate athletics as an option after competing at the state track and field meet during her sophomore season in 2023, in which she earned a sixth-place medal in the shot put with a personal-best distance of 37-4.25. She said a few coaches talked to her after that performance and it made her realize that college sports was something she was interested in participating in.
"I thought it would be great for me... It's hard work. You'll work hard, and then the reward for us just seemed great," Gillingham. "Especially since it's an individual sport, you can constantly push yourself. It's just you versus you."
As a freshman, Gillingham first started competing for Marshall track and field in the 55-, 100- and 200-meter dashes, as well as the shot put. After making her shot put debut with a distance of 27-7.5, she added more than six feet to her PR by the end of the season and finished fifth in the Section 2AA championship meet.
As asophomore, Gillingham finished outside of the top three in a meet just twice all season; once when she finished fourth in a home meet on April 17, and once when she medaled at the state championship meet.
While she dabbled in the discus as a sophomore, she honed in on that talent her junior season, going on to set a PR of 99-7 at the Class AA true team state meet -- a 14-foot improvement from her PR a season prior -- and she earned a third-place finish at the Big South Large Schools Conference Championship and a sixth-place finish at the section met.
During her time with the Marshall basketball team, Gillingham provided valuable rotational depth on the Tigers' run to the section championship game as a junior. As the sixth man for the Tigers, Gillingham averaged 7.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Still, her primary value came from her value as a lockdown defender; her 2.9 steals per 36 minutes ranked third on the team.
In terms of academics, Gillingham intends to be a double major in exercise science and integrated biology. When asked about how she plans on balancing her coursework with two sports, Gillingham said she intends on holding herself to a strict schedule in order to stay on top of everything.
The Dakota State womens basketball team went 28-7 last season, winning each of their first three matches in the NAIA womens basketball national championships before falling to Carroll in the quarterfinals. They finished the season ranked No. 9 in the final coaches poll and are currently ranked No. 7 this year after beating No. 9 Dakota Wesleyan en route to a 2-2 start.
The Dakota State womens track and field team finished third in the North Star Athletic Association outdoor track and field championships and second in the indoor championships last season. The Trojans kick off their 2024-25 track and field season with the South Dakota State Holiday Invitational in Brookings, S.D. on Dec. 6 and 7.