Henning senior is schools boys basketball all-time leading scorer

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Henning’s all-time leading scorer for boys basketball has a jumpstart on many of his classmates heading into their senior year of school.

Kale Misegades, who is a five-year starter for the Henning Hornets, has committed to play basketball in 2026 for the Southwest Minnesota State University Mustangs. Misegades, who is the son of Randy and Becky Misegades of rural Henning, helped the Hornets advance to their first state basketball tournament since 2020 this past season where they finished in fifth place. He was also named to the all-tournament team, while also breaking Dick Peterson’s mark of 1,579 career points that was set in 1966.

Misegades said SMSU was one of the programs that he really wanted to play for after high school due to its rich history of success and good culture. The college is based in Marshall, Minn. and competes in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. It has an enrollment of just approximately 8,700 students. 

“I went down there on a few visits and talked to them quite a bit. I really liked them,” he said about the staff and SMSU as a whole. “Overall they are a good program and it is a good culture.”

The Henning senior said his recruitment process really started last summer and fall when he began getting texts from different coaches talking to the Henning standout about playing basketball for their program in college. One of those programs was SMSU who finished with a 21-9 record and were 16-6 in the NSIC last season. 

When head coach Brad Bigler called Misegades this spring and asked him to come down to Marshall for a visit, Misegades was presented with an offer he couldn’t refuse—a full ride scholarship at the Division II college. Bigler has been at SMSU for 16 seasons and has amassed a 261-199 record to become the winningest coach in program history. 

“He called me and told me he wanted to get me down for a visit and he offered me (a scholarship) this spring,” said Misegades. “That’s the place I wanted to be and they gave me a full offer. (It is) nice to kind of get it out of the way so I can just play.”

Over the past few years Misegades has played AAU basketball during the spring and summer months. This past year he played for the Minnesota Comets based out of St. Cloud, Minn. The team took his family on the road quite a bit as they participated in Kansas City twice, Chicago, Atlanta and several other places as well. The AAU basketball program was something the Henning senior enjoyed as it gave him the opportunity to play against teams and players from across the country, and not just teams from around the Henning area.

“That was a lot of fun,” said Misegades. “We play a lot of the same teams when we are in Minnesota so getting to play some of the different people you have never seen before (was a lot of fun).”

While Misegades’ recruitment process was fairly quickly and smoothly, the Henning senior said a number of his teammates on his AAU team are still weighing college offers and going through the recruitment process. 

“Mine was pretty short compared to a lot of people,” said Misegades of his recruitment. “A lot of my teammates haven’t committed yet and I committed a couple of months ago already.”

With the recruitment process behind him, Misegades can turn his attention to his senior season of basketball. The Hornets have went 106-15 over the past four years, including a fifth place finish at state last year. They have also won three straight Park Region Conference titles after finishing undefeated for a third straight year in conference action.

All that being said, Misegades said some people might overlook Henning this season after graduating a large part of their team last year. He said he is looking forward to playing with a different group of guys who will be stepping into the starting lineup this season and potentially surprising some people along the way.

“I think people are going to underestimate us again so it will be fun to play with a different group and surprise some people I think,” he said. 

The opening game of the 2025-26 season is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 29 against Lake Park-Audubon on the road.