Basketball has been a part of junior Derek Krogmann’s life for as long as he can remember. This passion has driven him forward in his basketball career.

In the game against the DeWitt Sabers, Krogmann accomplished a big goal by reaching 1,000 points in his high school career. He says it’s an honor to be added to a list with such big names on it, such as BJ Hermsen, Todd Klosterman, Casey Ditch, and John Nagel.

Without the help and encouragement from his teammates, he wouldn’t have been able to achieve this goal.

“I’ve been really blessed to play with such great teammates ever since my freshman

year, and without them being able to create open looks for me and get me the ball in the right spot, I never could have done it,” Krogmann said.

Gavin Soppe (11) has been playing basketball with Krogmann for more than eight years and says that Krogmann still pushes him to do his best in practice and games.

“Derek pushes me to be a better teammate by getting me to play basketball in the summer and off season and pushing me harder during drills,” Soppe said.

Dunston Werner (12) and Drew Wubbena (12) thought it was cool to play with Krogmann when he scored his 1,000th point.

“I thought it was very cool that I had the chance to play with Derek when he got his 1,000th point, especially since he accomplished it in his junior year,” Wubbena said. “It was also cool because Derek is the second 1,000 point scorer we’ve had in two years.”

Along with the help from his teammates, Krogmann has been working toward this goal since third grade when he started on a West Delaware traveling team and played through eighth grade. On top of that he played on multiple Ameture Athletic Union (AAU) traveling teams, including Iowa Magic in fifth grade, the Iowa Barnstormers in sixth grade, Iowa Flight in seventh and 8th grade and, the Iowa Barnstormers again in ninth and tenth grade. Krogmann is finishing his AAU career playing for the Iowa Barnstormers this year.

“Playing on lots of different teams and traveling to tournaments all over the country has definitely helped me by exposing me to some of the top players and teams in the nation,” Krogmann said. He feels playing with the best of the best makes him a better player and continues to remind him of what he needs to work on to better himself and his teammates.

Krogmann isn’t done yet when it comes to accomplishing goals. He hopes to be back down at state with his team for the chance to make a run at winning a state title. Coming up one game short last year has Krogmann and the rest of the team working even harder to get back to the Wells.