Carter County Greats Part II

Editor's note: Following is the second in a multi-part series about the top ten greatest Carter County athletes of all time, as voted on by our readers.

1) Robert "Bob" Lasater

2) B.J. Padden

3) Ivan Teigen

4) Karen (Markuson) Kreitel: Kreitel graduated from CCHS in 1978. She was a four-year letterwomen on the CCHS girls basketball team and was in rodeo club and track for all four years of high school.

During Kreitel's four years at CCHS, the girls basketball team posted a 69-19 overall record. CCHS won the conference championship in '74, '75 and '76, and the district championship in '74, '76, and '77, with a second place finish in '75. During her career, the team also placed third at the divisional tournament two separate times.

In 1976, CCHS went 16-0 in the conference, and reached the semi-finals at state before losing by two points in overtime. That year, the team finished with a final record of 21-3.

During her senior season in '77, Kreitel averaged over 20 points per game and had a season-high 34 points against Hysham, the top-seeded team heading into tournament. At the district tournament, she put up 22 points in the second half of the championship game, also against Hysham.

Kreitel won MVP in track and basketball and also received all-tournament and all-conference selections multiple times during her high school career. She was named homecoming queen in 1977, was a member of the National Honor Society and graduated Valedictorian of her class.

After high school, Kreitel accepted an athletic scholarship to attend Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington, Wyoming where she played basketball for the E. W. C. Lancers.

5) TIE - John Ward: 1989 CCHS graduate John Ward was an all-conference football and basketball player for two years in high school. He made all-state in football as a senior.

Ward went on to play basketball at Dickinson State and was a two-year starter. At Dickinson, he was named the conference's defensive player of the year as a senior and was the team's co-captain.

Ward was also an accomplished dunker and a slam dunk contest champion. In North Dakota, he was once named to the amateur all-state team.

As a girls track coach at Hazen, North Dakota, Ward won four straight Class B state championships from 2015 to 2018. He has also had success as the girls and boys basketball coach and is currently coaching his son.

5) TIE - Pat Hansen: Ekalaka's Pat Hansen tied with John Ward for fifth on the list of Carter County Greats. Hansen had an impressive career at CCHS, helping lead his basketball and football teams to the postseason multiple times. He started for four consecutive years on both offense and defense in football and was an all-stater.

After graduating in 2010, Hansen headed to Montana Tech in Butte. After red-shirting his first year, he became a four-year starter at running back, missing only one career game with a torn calf muscle. Hansen ran for 178 yards and five touchdowns in his first game as a freshman and wound up as the team's MVP that year after rushing for 1,400 yards. As a sophomore he led the team in scoring and led the Frontier Conference in rushing.

Hansen went on to break the all-time Oredigger rushing yardage record, posting an impressive 4,486 career yards. He also broke the team's all-time carry record (934) and averaged over 4.8 yards per carry. He finished third in the nation in rushing in 2011.