Red-hot Arrows take home invitational for sixth-straight win, with only ESD and state left

If Watertown High School's boys golf team is feeling the pressure of trying to capture its first state championship in 52 years, you couldn't tell it.

The Arrows pushed their winning streak to six-straight tourneys on Tuesday by winning the Watertown Invitational at Cattail Crossing Golf Course.

Watertown shot a 4-over 292 and held off season-long rivals and fellow Eastern South Dakota Conference foes Pierre by three shots (295) and Harrisburg by 14 (306). Watertown Purple, a second team of Arrows, took fourth at 314, followed by Mitchell (318), Yankton (323), Aberdeen Central (326), Brookings (328), Aberdeen Roncalli (332), Milbank (345), Flandreau (348), Sioux Valley (352) and Huron (423).

Asher Dannenbring of Mitchell won a scorecard playoff over Pierre's Nick Bothun and Sawyer Sonnenschein for medalist honors. All three golfers shot 1-under 71s.

Then came five Arrows: senior Jake Olson (fourth, 72), junior Kaden Rylance (fifth, 73), sophomore Johnny Lake (sixth, 73), junior Jaden Solheim (seventh, 74) and junior Ty Lenards (eight, 74). Other Watertown golfers and their scores included Curtis Sneden and Jerome Zebroski, 77s; Gabe Norberg, Will Engstrom and Evan Meester, 80s; Max Stemwedel, 83; Brody Torgerson and Carter Buisker, 85s; and Jack Mack, 100.

"The guys played well again today," said Watertown head coach Corey Neale. "The course played tougher than normal, but the guys kept grinding through their rounds and got the W. Winning six-straight tournaments is a great accomplishment but I know they won't be satisfied unless they win the next two.

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Other area teams and their top finishers included Milbank (Jonathan DeBoer, 12th, 77); Aberdeen Central (Peyton Brust, 19th, 79); Aberdeen Roncalli (Jesse Hernandez, 20th, 79) and Sioux Valley (Tate Steffensen, 32nd, 82).

Complete results are available on golfgenius.com with the code: WBI23.

The Arrows definitely want more in 2023

Only two tournaments remain on the 2023 Class AA high school boys golf schedule for Watertown and it just so happens they're the two most important events: the ESD tourney on Monday at Fox Run Golf Course in Yankton and the state AA tourney on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 2-3 at the Brandon Golf Course.

Watertown opened the season playing at Brandon as part of the two-day Warrior-Lynx Invite. The Arrows finished fourth in the event, which finished in Sioux Falls. They haven't lost since.

"We knew at the beginning of the year that people we're expecting us to be good. That makes it hard for everybody to live up to those expectations," said Olson, the senior and undisputed leader of the Arrows. "Now that we've played really well these last six tournaments, we've proven to ourselves and everybody else that we're good enough to compete for a state title. There's a little bit of pressure, but if we play our game we know we're good enough to win."

More: 50 Years: Watertown High School's boys golf team chasing first state title since 1971

Watertown has won the past two ESD titles (they didn't compete in 2020 because of COVID-19) and Olson is a three-time conference champion (2019, 2021, 2022) who is seeking a three-peat in the ESD. He's also three-time state Class AA medalist who won the state title in 2021 before slipping to second in 2022.

"The nice thing about having Jake on our team is it's kind of nice to go out and compete with him every day and not just once a week in a tournament," said Rylance, also a three-time state medalist who finished second in 2020.

History goes way back for Watertown

South Dakota offered a one-class system of high school golf from 1929 through 1973 and Watertown's boys teams won 11 state titles (1929, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1949, 1950, 1957, 1958 and the aforementioned 1971). They also had eight runner-up finishes.

A two-class system was adopted in 1974 and continued through 2000. Watertown added two more runner-up finishes (1996 and 1997) in Class A. The current three-class system (with Class AA as the state's largest division) opened in 2001 and it has included runner-up finishes by the Arrows in 2002 and 2020.

The Arrows followed by the 2020 tourney with consecutive third-place finishes in 2021 and 2022.

"You want to win the conference, but state's kind of the big deal," admitted Rylance. "That's the one we want to win. Being three-time conference champions would be cool but if we don't win state, people will remember that."

"The two biggies are left," said Olson, who has won four tourneys and tied for first in another this fall. "Definitely the ones we want are the next two up."

A dominant streak doesn't mean automatic

Watertown's impressive season, certainly one that could match any in the history of the school's program, has been incredible but it hasn't come easy.

Harrisburg, which played four underclassmen as part of its six-player contingent on Tuesday, and Pierre, with six juniors, have been right there in most every tournament. Harrisburg topped Pierre by eight shots to win its first state title last fall.

And Olson and Rylance also are afraid to point out that O'Gorman, which finished fourth only three shots back of Watertown in last year's state tournament, also has a talented squad that can't be overlooked.

Unless some team gets incredibly hot, the team title could come down to a handful of strokes. That's one or two bad holes at most.

"I think we're pretty confident going into these final two tournaments," said Rylance, also a talented baseball player and son of former WHS standout athlete Heath Rylance. "We've got six wins in a row and a lot of momentum. Being the two-time champions makes it a little easier going into ESD and hopefully we win state like we want to. We've got our best chance this year with Jake being a senior."

Even with the impending graduation of Olson, who plans to definitely play collegiate golf and is narrowing down his list of choices, the Arrows aren't a two-player show. Solheim tied for seventh in last year's state tournament with Rylance and Lenards has medaled at state each of the past two years. Lake recently moved into the lineup and has played well in both of his varsity tournaments. Norberg is the son former Watertown standout athlete and coach Brian Norberg.

For now, there's two more tournaments remaining for the Olson-led Arrows and both are big. Olson has his sights on another individual state title and the long-awaited end to the team championship drought for Watertown.

"I think that definitely goes together. If I play well and compete for the individual title, I know I'm helping I'm helping my team out to win the title we've been working for all year long. It's been our goal the last two years and it would be a dream come true."

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's boys golfers win home invite, continue quest for first state title in 22 years