Sara Asher sits with her friends Friday night at the Ralph Engelstad Arena. Photo by Chester Beltowski/The Dakota Student.

Amidst the blur of faces and cheers at UND sporting events, four students and their voices stand out thanks to their dedication as Green and White fans.

Senior Calvin Speare, a longtime North Dakota fan, made his voice heard in the last three hockey seasons. Speare holds himself responsible for starting “Sioux Yeah Yeah” cheers from the upper bowl of the Ralph Engelstad Arena, often leaving the games with a sore throat.

“I’ve been going to games since I was very little,” he said. “My family has had season tickets in the same spot since the new Ralph opened. Probably around my sophomore year was when I started leading chants.”

Speare spends hours in front of the Ralph before men’s hockey games to save spots in the upper deck for other fans. While he enjoys sitting with his friends, part of saving spots is a way to hide after his constant heckling and inappropriate chant leading.

“Other than the ‘Sioux Yeah Yeah,’ which is the standard, most of the cheers aren’t appropriate,” Speare said. “I heckle a lot. I’ve never been kicked out, but I’ve been threatened to be kicked out at least three times every semester.”

During the chanting and heckling, Speare has to remember that his parents and family members are listening to him in the lower bowl.

“My mom texts me after every single hockey chant and it’s usually not a positive message,” Speare said. “My dad thinks all the chants are just hilarious.”

Assistant Director of Marketing Jason Namanny said the overall support of students seems to be on the rise as Nodak Nation experienced an increase in interest over the last year for both football and volleyball.

Namanny says there are several students who are close to the 100 point mark. The points are given as incentive for Nodak Nation members who attend games throughout the year.

Sophomore Austin Anderson plays in the UND band during football and men’s and women’s hockey games. Anderson said he loves being able to attend every game, as long as his classes and homework allow for it.

“It’s just something fun to do,” Anderson said. “There is a lot of other things I could do that are not as productive, but I think it’s important to come support the athletes when they are working so hard.”

When he is not playing in the band, Anderson and his friends can be found sitting behind the opponent’s bench giving the team a hard time.

Anderson said hockey is his favorite sport to watch, but women’s volleyball was getting pretty exciting this past fall when the team was playing well. He also has had the chance get to know quarterbacks Joe Mollberg and Ryan Bartels after living on the same floor as them freshmen year.

Junior Sara Asher focuses on the hockey teams and is careful about what she wears to games.

“I like to paint my nails green for games, and if I wear a hockey jersey to the Friday night hockey game and they lose, I’ll wear my other jersey to the Saturday night game,” she said.

Asher said the free and reduced-priced tickets to the athletic games are real perks.

“If I had to pay for the tickets I wouldn’t likely go to as many, but I enjoy those that I do go to,” she said.

Senior Tony Baker currently is taking the semester off, but has a certain spot he likes to sit in at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. He can usually be found in the lower section of the student bleachers during games, cheering on whichever team is playing and supporting the cheer team on the floor.

After cheering both as a UND cheerleader and being in the stands as a fan, Baker said games are about individuals coming together.

“I feel like it goes beyond the fans and beyond the team, to coming together as one unit,” he said.

Like Anderson, Baker said he enjoys getting to know players like Brandon Brekke, Mitch Wilmer and Troy Huff. Baker has a tradition of shooting hoops with players on the men’s basketball team before home games.

With the women’s team in first place of the Big Sky, Baker is excited with what the future has in store for the team come post-season play.

“You can see the Betty is filling up more than it used to,” he said. “During the tournament, if they hosted it here there would be even more people here, which would be really cool.”

Mathew McKay is a staff writer and Sam Wigness is the features editor for The Dakota Student. They can be reached at [email protected].