DICKINSON, N.D. — Billings West High School graduate Christian Kappel will be joining the basketball program at Dickinson State. The university announced Kappel’s signing alongside six other players on Wednesday.
Kappel, who will join DSU this fall, last played for Dawson Community College in Glendive in 2015-16. He averaged 15 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assist per game, while shooting 40 percent from the field, 38 percent from 3-point range and 84 percent from the free throw line. Kappel was a second-team all-conference selection while at DCC.
“After taking a couple years off, we are both eager to get Christian back on the court,” DSU coach Josh Vaughan said in a release. “We are every excited to watch him in a Blue Hawk uniform.”
Kappel graduated from West in 2014. As a 6-foot-1 guard, he averaged 8.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game during his senior season for the Golden Bears. He made 44.8 percent of his field goal attempts, 40.3 percent of his 3-point attempts and 77.3 percent of his free throw attempts.
The Bears won the Eastern AA regular-season conference championship with a 9-3 league record. They lost to Missoula Hellgate in the semifinals of the State AA tournament and ultimately finished in fourth place with an 18-6 overall record.
“I wanted to further my academic and athletic career,” Kappel said as to why he chose DSU. “After getting input from my past coaches and recommendations, Dickinson State was the logical choice for me to grow athletically and academically.”
DSU also announced the signings of Tanner Davis, Melvin Collins, Raiden Forrest, Tayler Marteliz, Logan Miller and Michael Vandall.
“We are very excited to announce the signing of these young men,” Vaughan said. “They all bring different attributes and will all impact the program in different ways. This is a great start to our recruiting class, and we look forward to getting to work with them.”
The Blue Hawks compiled a 16-13 overall record during the 2017-18 season, finishing with a 9-7 mark in the North Star Athletic Association. They finished their season with a loss to Mayville (N.D.) State in the NSAA Tournament championship.
