Hard work, sacrifice got West Delaware’s Derek Krogmann far

MANCHESTER - Sacrifice.

West Delaware's leading scorer, Derek Krogmann, knows all about sacrifice.

Playing on four different AAU travel teams over the span of eight years, Krogmann sacrificed many hours to become the player he is today.

Throughout his time with four different AAU teams, he traveled to 20 states, including Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

'I missed a lot of weekends hanging with my friends,” Krogmann said. 'But, I knew doing the travel basketball would make me a better player. So all the weekends spent away were worth it.”

As the boys' basketball team heads to the state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena, taking on unbeaten Clear Lake on Tuesday at 1 p.m., Krogmann takes with him many accomplishments.

Krogmann is the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,669 points, a record previously held by BJ Hermsen with 1,429 points.

During games, Krogmann often is double- or even triple guarded.

'It makes it more challenging for me to score,” Krogmann said. 'When I'm guarded like that, it gives me the opportunity to pass the ball around, giving my teammates more chances to score.”

A four-year varsity starter, Krogmann also leads the school in career rebounds with 1,120. Hermsen held that record, too, with 735 career rebounds.

Krogmann has tallied a record 25 rebounds in a single game and 413 career free throws.

'Derek gets a lot of credit for being a great player,” senior teammate Logan Winn said. 'He is so humble about all the recognition he gets.”

His teammates look up to him.

'Derek is one of the hardest workers on the team,” freshman Blake DeMoss said. 'He has a great work ethic.”

Krogmann plans to attend the University of Northern Iowa and continue his basketball and academic careers.

'I'll be redshirting my freshman year,” Krogmann said, 'but I'm very excited to practice and learn new things with a new team.”