South Dakota universities compete to raise funds, fight childhood cancer

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) -

Earlier this year, Northwestern Mutual completed its third season of the FCS Challenge, using name, image and likeness (NIL) deals for football athletes to raise money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand. It was a record-setting year, raising over $135,000. It brings their fundraiser total from the three seasons to around $266,000.

Now, they’re leading a competition between colleges only in South Dakota.

For the second time in three years, USD quarterback Aidan Bouman led the way, winning another Lemon Trophy for raising the most money in the competition. He has yet to pick up his prize, as he has been busy training for a possible shot in the National Football League. Bouman played a large role in getting the FCS Challenge started and Northwestern Mutual Chief Talent Officer Kristin Hoefert said it has been impressive to see student-athletes take pride in the initiative.

“The athletes have gone above and beyond over and over,” Hoefert said. “Aidan put on events by himself. He got his entire team to do the Lemon Top Challenge. Watching the student-athletes lead it and get their teams to lead it, it’s a phenomenal experience to be a part of.”

Really, South Dakota itself has led the way. Between the two FCS schools in the state, they raised over $75,000 this year— more than the remaining schools combined. Hosting a South Dakota-specific challenge just made sense.

“We thought this would be an incredible opportunity to mentor even more young philanthropic leaders as well as to utilize their platforms to be able to spread the message,” Hoefert explained.

Hoefert said Northwestern Mutual received calls from coaches, players and parents asking when the competition would come to their school. Now, it’s here. Six universities, twelve athletes, one goal. One male and one female athlete from a variety of sports will represent their school and try to raise the most money for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

The Northwestern Mutual ALSF team captains are hockey athlete Landon Fandel and basketball athlete Isabella Sanneh from Augustana, basketball athletes Cam Lowe and Sawyer Stoebner from Black Hills State, basketball athletes James Glenn and Izzy Moore from Northern State, basketball athlete Joe Sayler and golf athlete Reese Jansa from South Dakota State, basketball athletes Jacoby Mehrman and Gracie Traphagen from the University of Sioux Falls and basketball athletes Isaac Bruns and Josie Hill from the University of South Dakota.

It’s still a unique proposition to use name, image and likeness deals to raise money, not just make money. However, it didn’t take much convincing because of their desire to use their platform to do good.

“I think it’s really special because NIL gives us athletes the ability to do more than just play our sport,” said USD Senior Josie Hill. “It means a lot to me to just be able to even make a small impact on someone’s life and stuff.”

“I think it’s really cool that our platform can spread [awareness] to so many different people and benefit more than just a sport,” described USF Junior Gracie Traphagen. “It benefits someone’s life, which is much bigger than even this challenge. Trying to save an innocent child’s life so someday they can be in our shoes and play a sport like we are.”

Of course, these athletes are highly competitive. It’s how they’ve gotten to where they are today. Each one wants to win and bring bragging rights to their school. But competition also brings a positive side-effect.

“If we can get the Augie and USF fanbases battling or the USD and SDSU fanbases battling, I think the donations can really go through the roof,” said USF sophomore Jacoby Mehrman. “At the end of the day, if we can make that happen, everybody’s a winner, but yeah, we do want to win and represent our school.”

“In the grand scheme of things, I would like the bragging rights of winning, but we’re kind of all in this together,” Traphagen said. “We want to win, but we also want to win the game of life.”

Cancer has touched the lives of so many. Each athlete in the competition has their own story of a friend or family member battling this disease. It gives more motivation on top of a meaningful mission.

“During high school, my grandma was diagnosed with cancer,” Hill said. “Luckily, I had a good community around me. Just seeing everyone come together and help raise money for my grandma, it meant a lot to me, so I want to try to help someone as well. Even if I could help just a little bit, it would mean a lot to me.”

“My uncle Matt battled cancer for a few years and that definitely played a role in me getting involved with this,” Mehrman stated. “I’ve seen how [cancer] affects families and if I can even play a small role in helping families out or eventually finding a cure, then that’s something I definitely want to be a part of.”

“When I was actually in middle school, my best friend had gotten diagnosed with childhood cancer,” recalled Traphagen. “A year later, she had passed away, so it kind of hit home. It’s just a way that I’d like to give back. I kind of felt hopeless when I was a kid. It was kind of confusing when I found out she had cancer. I was lost. [This competition] gives me a way to be used for something for these kinds that don’t deserve this childhood cancer and a way to help.”

The competition ends on May 16th. Each school hopes to be on top of the leaderboard in both total dollars raised and the Lemon Top Challenge, a social media campaign where if someone posts a photo balancing a lemon on their head and tags their favorite school, Northwestern Mutual will donate $10.

To donate or learn more about the Lemon Top Challenge rules, visit the South Dakota Champions competition website or follow an athlete from the school you wish to donate to for more information on fundraiser events.