Boys Basketball 2025-26 All-Area first team

MARSHALL — The Wabasso and Dawson-Boyd boys basketball teams each earned three selections to the Independent All-Area boys basketball team, announced on Wednesday. The Rabbits had their frontcourt duo of Caden Frericks and Brayden Guetter on the first team and guard Drew Kemp on the second team, while Dawson-Boyd had guard Gunner Liebl on the first team and forwards Jaxton Hastad and Landon Malecek on the second and third teams.

Also on the first team were Marshall forward Oliver Voigt and Red Rock Central Henry Stavnes. Both in their sophomore seasons, the two were the lone underclassmen on the first team and two of the three underclassmen on any of the three teams.

The area’s first team featured plenty of bucket-getters. Stavnes finished the season as the area’s leading scorer, averaging 28.8 points per game with an area-high 90 3-pointers made. Beyond the volume, he scored on efficient 53/35/83 shooting splits.

Also elite on the scoring front, Liebl and Guetter were neck-and-neck with Liebl scoring 25.1 points per game and Guetter averaging 24.9. The only other area boys to average over 20 were second-teamers Drew Swanson of Westbrook-Walnut Grove and Griffin Zick of Tracy-Milroy-Balaton.

Liebl was also the area’s assist leader, averaging 6.3 per game

Voigt and Frericks were able to score efficiently as well, with Frericks averaging 16.7 points per game on 73% from the field and Voigt averaging 18.6 per game on 52% from the field and 40% from 3-point range. Yet, their true value came from their ability to do the dirty work on the court.

Voigt was one of the area’s premier defensive players. In addition to taking on an increased offensive role this season after Marshall graduated its primary scorers from a season prior, Voigt developed into an elite rim protector. He added to his average of a points-rebounds double-double by finishing as the area’s blocks leader, averaging 2.3 per game over the course of the season.

Frericks, meanwhile, was the area’s leading rebounder, with 16.6 per game on the season. His 498 rebounds this season ranked sixth in Minnesota single-season history, one shy of cracking the top 5, and he also set the Wabasso single-game rebounding record with 34.

Murray County Central’s selfless offensive style didn’t lead to eye-popping individual scoring numbers, but they weren’t short on impactful players.

Senior center Aidan Swenson was also an elite shotblocker with 2.1 blocks per game, as well as nearly averaging a double-double with 14 points and 8.2 rebounds per game to earn a second-team selection. Dugan Kluis was one of the area’s top distributors with nine points and 4.7 assists per game to make our third team.

Wabasso and Dawson-Boyd were two of the top teams in the state all season long, bouncing around the top 10 of the Class A coaches poll. Wabasso made the deepest run of any of the Independent area teams, advancing to the Section 3A North subsection championship game.

Kemp also earned second team honors after averaging 17 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, and his 70 3-pointers trailed only Stavnes’ 90, Liebl’s 79 and Zick’s 77.

Dawson-Boyd’s Hastad made a massive scoring leap this season, going from a contributor on last year’s state championship team to being a forward that averaged 19.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and a block per game. Malecek also contributed in the paint with 1.8 blocks and 8.2 rebounds per game.

Lakeview’s Cody Helmke, Canby’s Owen Peterson and Russell-Tyler-Ruthton’s Colten Thomsen also earned third-team honors. Helmke was the area’s second-leading rebounder with 11.7 rebounds per game, along with 14.6 points and 1.2 blocks and steals.

Peterson was a strong scorer in his sophomore season with the Lancers, averaging 17.6 with over two steals per game, and Thomsen averaged 15.6 points per game for the Knights.

Marshall and Minneota each earned a pair of honorable mentions, with guards Patrick Morman and Davion Xayarath representing the Tigers and Jase Sorenson and Easton Johnston representing the Vikings.

Lakeview’s Braylon Breyfogle, Yellow Medicine East’s Gunnar Fagen, Westbrook-Walnut Grove’s Jackson Jenniges and TMB’s Connor Lanoue were also named as honorable mentions.

The Independent’s All-Area teams were determined primarily by individual performances, though team success in the regular season and postseason were taken into account.

The Independent will announce its Boys Basketball Player and Coach of the Year in Thursday’s edition of the Independent.

BY THE NUMBERS

(Listed in alphabetical order, slash lines represent field goal/3-point/free throw percentage)

FIRST TEAM

Caden Frericks, Wabasso

Junior, forward

16.7 PPG,16.6 RPG, 2.4 APG

2.0 SPG, 0.7 BPG, 0.9 TPG, 73/-/43%

Brayden Guetter, Wabasso

Senior, forward

24.9 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 4.3 APG

1.5 BPG, 1.4 SPG, 3.2 TPG, 52 3PM, 55/36/74%

Gunner Liebl, Dawson-Boyd

Senior, guard

25.1 PPG, 6.3 APG, 6.1 RPG

1.9 SPG, 0.4 BPG, 2.8 TPG, 79 3PM, 50/39/73%

Henry Stavnes, Red Rock Central

Sophomore, guard

28.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.4 APG,

2.6 SPG, 3.4 TPG, 90 3PM, 53/35/83%

Oliver Voigt, Marshall

Sophomore, forward

18.6 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 1.4 APG

2.25 BPG, 0.4 SPG, 2.1 TPG, 42 3PM, 52/40/63%

SECOND TEAM

Jaxton Hastad, DB

Jr., F

19.5 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 4.1 APG

2.6 SPG, 1.0 BPG, 2.1 TPG, 17 3PM, 58/38/75%

Drew Kemp, Wabasso

Jr., G

17.0 PPG, 4.5 APG, 3.3 RPG

2.5 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 2.3 TPG, 70 3PM, 51/36/77%

Drew Swanson, WWG

Sr., G

21.9 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 4.6 APG

1.7 SPG, 48 3PM, 75% FT

Aidan Swenson, MCC

Sr., C

14 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 0.9 APG

2.1 BPG, 0.4 SPG, 1.6 TPG, 49/0/80%

Griffin Zick, TMB

Sr., G

20.9 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 3.1 APG

2.8 SPG, 3.6 TPG, 77 3PM, 41/32/75%

THIRD TEAM

Cody Helmke, Lakeview

Sr., C

14.6 PPG, 11.7 RPG, 0.7 APG

1.2 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 1.7 TPG, 59/-/66%

Dugan Kluis, MCC

Jr., G

9.0 PPG, 4.7 APG, 3.8 RPG

2.3 SPG, 3.2 TPG, 13 3PM, 43/30/62%

Landon Malecek, DB

Jr., C

8.1 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 0.3 APG

1.8 BPG, 0.4 SPG, 0.8 TPG, 58/-/50%

Owen Peterson, Canby

So., G

17.6 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 2.4 APG

2.1 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 3 TPG, 61 3PM, 39/29/78%

Colten Thomsen, RTR

Sr., F

15.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.9 APG

1.7 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 2.6 TPG, 51/27/59%

HONORABLE MENTION

Braylon Breyfogle, Lakeview, Sr., G

Davion Xayarath, Marshall, Sr., G