Richardton native Martin now UMary's top receiver

• Brady Martin

Brady Martin

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Brady Martin’s journey back to North Dakota began when he spotted a University of Mary hat.

At a University of Wyoming team camp with high school teammates from Aurora, Colo., Martin saw former UMary defensive coordinator Jason Petrino, now Wyoming’s director of football operations, wearing the blue and orange of the Marauders.

Martin grew up in the Richardton area, so he started a conversation with Petrino.

Two years later, Martin was going into his senior year and starting to catch the eye of football coaches. Soon, UMary offered him an opportunity to play.

When the time came to make a decision, Martin said choosing the NCAA Division II school in Bismarck wasn’t difficult.

“I have a lot of family here and it’s close to where I grew up,” Martin said.

Three years after returning to North Dakota, Martin is set to begin his sophomore season as a not only the Marauders’ top returning receiver, but their only one with experience.

UMary opens its season at noon Saturday at Chadron (Neb.) State.

As a freshman, Martin caught 28 passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns. Even though he’s one of the only receivers on the team’s roster with experience as a Marauder, Martin doesn’t see himself as the team’s go-to guy.

“We don’t really have a top receiver,” Martin said. “… We’ve got a lot of talent on our depth chart at receiver. We’ve got a pretty strong group talent-wise.”

Martin left North Dakota after his eighth-grade year at Richardton-Taylor. He attended grade school and junior high in the Richardton-Taylor school district but moved to Colorado when his mother, Laurie, married Dickinson native David Ferderer and the two decided to make their home in Colorado.

Martin’s father, Daniel Haag, had died in a farm accident in 1999, so the teenager had no choice but to move with his mother to Colorado.

Martin said he went from a class with 32 people to one with about 350.

On the football side, he went from potentially playing in front of hundreds — thousands on a good day — in a small North Dakota town, to playing for thousands every game in Colorado’s third-largest city.

“It was different for sure,” Martin said. “The (game) atmosphere was pretty fun.”

Martin said he now chooses to stay in North Dakota for the summer because, “summer is where you make the biggest gains.”

Martin said he hopes his work over the summer paid off.

“I’d like to improve, keep working hard,” Martin said. “Mostly I just want the whole team to improve.”

Steffan, Nash both on teams generating preseason buzz

Two 2006 Dickinson High School graduates are members of college volleyball teams that have generated some preseason buzz.

Katelyn Steffan, a 6-4 opposite hitter, is back at Colorado State for her sophomore year and is a returning starter for the Rams, who are ranked No. 24 in the preseason American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll.

Paige Nash, a 6-1 middle hitter, transferred from Montana to North Dakota State last spring and joined the defending Summit League champions who have again been picked to win their conference.

Both the Rams and the Bison reached the NCAA tournament last season.

Steffan and Nash were the two of the top players on the Midgets volleyball team’s that won back-to-back Class A state championships in 2005 and 2006. As seniors, Steffan was named Miss Volleyball while Nash was named Gatorade Player of the Year.

DSU giving tornado evacuees free tickets to home opener

Evacuees of the July 8 tornado disaster are being given complimentary tickets to the Dickinson State football team’s home opener against Wisconsin-Whitewater at noon on Saturday, Sept. 5 at the Badlands Activities Center.

Evacuees can pick up the tickets at Dickinson City Hall beginning Friday. The tickets are available until noon Friday, Sept. 4.

Monke is the Sports Editor of The Dickinson Press and covers college athletics. Read his blog at www.areavoices.com/monke.

Tags: paige nash, brady martin, katelyn steffan, myron schulz, sports, college, football, volleyball, richardton