Watertown wrestling teams take confidence, high hopes to the road for rest of the season

WATERTOWN — If you blinked, you missed your chance to see Watertown High School's wrestling team perform at home during the 2023-24 season.

Yes, there's still more than two months of the season remaining, but the Arrows made their final home appearances by hosting Brookings in Eastern South Dakota Conference duals in the Civic Arena.

The girls match ended in a 36-36 draw that (although it wasn't officially announced) Brookings won on criteria. The boys match was a 51-25 win for Watertown.

Now comes a road trip that won't conclude until the state individual tournaments Feb. 22-24.

"We're looking for our wrestlers to go out and compete hard whether we're at home or away," boys coach Chas Welch said. "It doesn't make any difference to them. We prepare the same way and we want to wrestle the same way."

Watertown hosts Beresford/Alcester-Hudson and Yankton in a season-opening triangular on Nov. 30 and then host the Marv Sherrill Dual tournament on Dec. 2. Thursday was the third and final home date on the schedule.

More: Golden Eagles top Arrows in championship of Marv Sherrill Dual tournament

More: Arrows win 25 of 28 matches in home triangular with Yankton, Beresford/Alcester-Hudson

Watertown girls wrestling grows in Year 2

Girls wrestling in South Dakota is still in its infancy, and keeps growing in numbers. Watertown joined the act last winter with a few wrestlers and now has a few duals thrown into the mix. The Arrows, coached by Dexter Gaikowski, were 3-0 in duals before Thursday.

Olivia Anderson got Watertown started by improving her season record to 13-0 with a fall at 100 pounds. All five of Watertown's other wins came by forfeit (Hayden Thomas at 120, Katelyn Yexley at 138, April Peterson at 152, Allison Konrad at 185 and Eden Hach at 250). Konrad is now 12-0 on the season.

Brookings won the five other matches that were wrestled by fall.

Watertown's girls are scheduled to compete Saturday in the Battle for the Paddle tournament at Canton.

Watertown boys' big three remain undefeated

Freshman Gage Lohr (120), senior Sloan Johannsen (126) and junior Mich Hach (285) each improved to 12-0 with falls and helped Watetown's boys improve their dual record to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the ESD.

Seniors Derek Hanson (132) and Tucker Urdahl (165) and junior Ethan Wientjes (215) also notched pins for the Arrows, who also got a decision from sophomore Markus Pitkin at 157 and forfeit wins by freshmen Chase Mathews at 106 and Landen Lewis at 150.

Hach said he woke up under the weather Thursday, but was glad he didn't have to miss the team's final home appearance.

"I love the guys I wrestle with, so I'm willing to push through for them," Hach said. "To me, it's not going to make a difference if we're on the road the rest of the season or not, but I always love wrestling in front of the home crowd."

The future looks bright for Hach

Johannsen, a three-time state champion, and Lohr, a returning state champion, were each rated No. 1 in their weight classes to start the season by Dakota Grappler but so was Hach, who lost to Brandon Valley's Navarro Schunke in the state championship match at 285 last winter. This week, Lohr and Hach each dropped to No. 2.

It appeared that Schunke, a four-time state champion who has committed to play Division I football at Kansas State, might forego his senior wrestling season. He's back, however, and could again cross paths with Hach, who enjoyed an All-State season this fall as dominant defensive lineman for the Arrows football team.

Hach, like Schunke, is drawing plenty of college football interest and could face a similar decision next winter.

"Even though some of the matches aren't pushing me the most, I just love the sport of wrestling and I find it great," Hach said. "I love the community that it promotes and the people it helps, just the type of human you become when you wrestle. I just love it all."

Senior night and the rest of the season

Johannsen, Hanson, Urdahl and teammates Andrew Stricker and Brock Eitreim (who is out with an injury) were honored on Senior Night along with Thomas and Kaitlynn Payne for the girls and managers Cheznie Anderson, Bianca Lewandowski and Brianna Wietzema.

Watertown's boys head to Sioux Falls Washington for the Warrior Invitational on Saturday and will also wrestle in Sioux Falls Lincoln's Floyd Farrand Invite on Dec. 30. The season will kick into high gear after the holidays. The girls are off until January after their tourney on Saturday.

"Right now, we're just trying to make weekly improvements and get ready for the end of February," Welch said.

Hach also feels there's still plenty of good things ahead.

"We just haven't been able to perform to our best so far this year," Hach said. "We definitely have some young guys who can step up if they keep working in the room. That's what we're going to be depending on throughout the rest of the year."

Varsity Boys (Watertown 51, Brookings 25)

106: Chase Mathews (W) by forfeit; 113: Tate Helmbolt (B) over Max Stroup (Fall 1:23) 120: Gage Lohr (W) over Levi Quam (Fall 5:48) 126: Sloan Johannsen (W) over Jacob Milliron(Fall 2:13) 132: Derek Hanson (W) over Sawyer Johnson (Fall 1:03) 138: Nolan Miles (B) over Leo Stroup (MD 11-2) 144: Mason Mathis (B) over Cooper Kettwig (Dec 8-5) 150: Landen Lewis (W) by forfeit 157: Markus Pitkin (W) over Logan Straub (Dec 4-2) 165: Tucker Urdahl (W) over Blake Kannegieter (Fall 1:28) 175: Gabriel Stern (B) over Andrew Stricker (Fall 1:34) 190: Joey Fitzpatrick (B) over Jensen Wientjes (Fall 0:14) 215: Ethan Wientjes (W) over Carson Loehr (Fall 0:40) 285: Micah Hach (W) over Dylan Reynolds (BROO) (Fall 0:57).

Girls Varsity (Brookings 36, Watertown 36)

100: Olivia Anderson (W) over Claire Milliron (Fall 1:12) 107: Bailey Tekrony (B) over Kaitlynn Payne (Fall 1:54) 114: Lilly Toft (B) over Audrey Mack (Fall 3:25) 120: Hayden Thomas (W) by forfeit 126: Ramsie Hinricher (B) over Avah Grismer (Fall 5:52) 132: Cierra Strand (B) over Jeryn Fieber (Fall 1:11) 138: Katelyn Yexley (W) by forfeit 145: Johanna Steinlicht (B) over Nevaeh Schanbeck (Fall 0:49) 152: April Peterson (W) by forfeit 165: Maizy Mathis (B) by forfeit 185: Allison Konrad (W) by forfeit 250: Eden Hach (W) by forfeit.

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Watertown boys and girls wrestling shine in final home match of season