Prep of the Week: Tysen Grinde

(ABC 6 News) — Basketball has been in the Grinde family for years, Spring Grove boys basketball head coach Wade Grinde played it up to college as did his wife and children. It’s just recently that the youngest child of the family, Tysen, has seen his high school hoops career come to an end.

“It feels great,” Tysen said following the Class A 3rd Place Game on March 25. “Not too many teams in Class A get to have that opportunity and getting that win with my brothers felt great.”

The third-place finish concluded the Lions’ first state appearance since 2019, something that Grinde was relieved to experience after Spring Grove’s Section 1A title victory on March 16.

“We had the state football championship where we got the win ripped away from us and we didn’t want that to happen again,” Grinde recounted. “It feels amazing. It feels like we got revenge for our state championship.”

Grinde plus teammates Jaxon Strinmoen and Elijah Solum all scored 15 points each in the 3rd place game. The three standouts all wanted to end on a high note as Grinde’s younger teammates knew how much this last ride meant to Grinde and the other seniors.

“We got one last run together as a group,” junior teammate Ethan Crouch said. “We’ve shown how well we play together in football, we’re just going to go out there and give it our best and leave everything out there because it’ll be our last game. Only 12 teams get to end the season on a win and we’re going to be one of those twelve.”

As Grinde leaves behind a memorable career, his college future will see him stay on the football field. Grinde committed to Dakota State University in a twist from the tradition of college hoops in his family. Nevertheless, the genuine love for competition is what pushes Grinde to success. The chance to prove himself, win or lose is what will keep his fire alive in the next chapter.

“I knew that the finality of the situation — it’s hard to be a coach and a dad,” Wade Grinde conceded. “Any dad that’s a coach out there will tell you that. But it ended — I’m really happy for him that he got to play well and end with a win. So, that means a lot to our family.”

“If I hear the other player or the other team has a really good player, I always want to try my best to stop them,” Tysen stated. “It just gets me a little excited, gets me going, gets me more chippy I guess. It’s just — the challenge excites me.”