SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Augustana director of athletics Josh Morton is pleased to announce the addition of two members to the Vikings' athletics communications office. Andy Thurston joins the department as the assistant director of communications. Kipp Bonde joins the department as the coordinator of video and creative content.
 
Thurston arrives in Sioux Falls after spending the past two years in Marshall, Minnesota, at Southwest Minnesota State as the athletic communications graduate assistant. Over his two years with the Mustangs, Thurston helped publicize the 19 athletics programs while serving as the direct contact for the volleyball, wrestling, women's basketball, softball and soccer programs.
 
He also served as an intern for the North Dakota State sports information office where he was the secondary contact for the wrestling program and helped all other facets of the office including the maintenance of gobison.com, social media channels and other electronic communications.
 
Thurston earned his bachelor's degree in sports management from North Dakota State in 2020 and his master's degree in physical education, teaching and coaching from SMSU in 2023.
 
Bonde comes to Augustana after spending the summer working for Minnesota United FC as a video production assistant. Bonde created short and long term content for the Major League Soccer club and its second team, MNUFC2.
 
Prior to his stint in the Twin Cities, Bonde spent the past four years obtaining his undergraduate degree from Winona State in mass communications and creative digital media. The 2023 graduate spent the past football season embedded with the Warrior football team during their NCAA playoff season as the director of video production. He created hype videos and game recaps. Bonde also has experience as a sports photographer for WKBT News 8 in La Crosse, Wisconsin and as a digital media intern for Exist Media Company in Minneapolis.
 
Bonde's digital coverage for Augustana will cover all 22 sports while Thurston will serve as the direct athletics communications contact for volleyball, cross country, women's basketball, wrestling and baseball teams. 
 
Both Thurston and Bonde began their duties with Augustana on Monday.