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WHS soccer, cheer-dance, cross country & tennis team put finishing touches on homecoming week

roger merriam, watertown public opinion
·8 min read

WATERTOWN — Watertown High School's soccer teams closed out homecoming week by splitting matches against Sioux Falls Washington at Allen Mitchell Field.

The Arrow boys (6-3-2 overall) won 4-2 and the girls (2-8-1) fell 2-1.

Riley Fischer tallied two goals and Ty Meidinger and Tommy Foley each one for the Arrow boys. Foley and Braxten Endres each produced assists and goalkeeper Owen Muller had seven saves.

"Our communication was good and we had a great combo of possession goals. The boys were crashing the net and set plays were good with good chances," said WHS boys coach Jesse Hauck. "Another positive is that everyone got into the game, which was awesome."

Mylee Kannas scored off an assist from Olivia Dettmann for the Arrow girls, who also got eight saves from goalkeeper Madison Enstad. Watertown finished with nine shots.

The Arrows visit Aberdeen Central on Monday, girls at 2 p.m. and boys at 4 p.m.

Watertown's Claire Schochenmaier (22) clears the ball in front off Sioux Falls Washington's Isabella Messenbrink during their high school girls soccer match on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Allen Mitchell Field in Watertown.
Watertown's Claire Schochenmaier (22) clears the ball in front off Sioux Falls Washington's Isabella Messenbrink during their high school girls soccer match on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Allen Mitchell Field in Watertown.

Clyde Cotton Cross Country Invite

HURON — A sixth-place finish by Watertown seventh-grader Grace McElroy in the girls' 5,000-meter run led Watertown and Aberdeen Central runners on Saturday in the Clyde Cotton Invitational cross country meet at the Broadland Creek Golf Course.

Peyton VanDeest of Spearfish won the 73-runner girls' race in 18 minutes and 19.01 seconds. Faith Wiese of Flandreau (18;24.49) was second and Addison Scholten of Brandon Valley third (18;28.53). McElroy's time was 19:00.97.

Jared Lutmer of Pierre won the boys' 5,000 in 15:34.62, followed by Mikah Peters of Brandon Valley (15:51.14) and Peyton Cast of Douglas (16:06.12). There were 97 runners.

Brandon Valley won the girls division with a score of 25, followed by Chamberlain 95, Pierre 99, Watertown 118, Flandreau 133, Aberdeen Central 147, Custer 154, Sioux Falls Washington 163 and James Valley Christian 203.

Brookings took the boys division with a score of 90, followed by SF Washington at 96, Brandon Valley 98, Custer 100, Aberdeen Central 104, Douglas 147, Watertown 148, Spearfish 177, Pierre 184, Mitchell 287, Flandreau 307 and Huron 352.

Watertown goalkeeper Madison Enstad slides to grab the ball in front of Sioux Falls Washington's Keren Gonzalez Porras and teammate Sydney Stanton during their high school girls soccer match on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Allen Mitchell Field in Watertown.
Watertown goalkeeper Madison Enstad slides to grab the ball in front of Sioux Falls Washington's Keren Gonzalez Porras and teammate Sydney Stanton during their high school girls soccer match on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Allen Mitchell Field in Watertown.

Other Watertown Runners — Girls: 17. Kate McElroy, 20:05.4; 21. Olivia Anderson, 20:16.16; 45. Ellery Stark, 21:59.87; 65. Grace List, 23:07.41; 70. Isabella Horning, 24:15.14; 72. Abigail Reeves, 24:53.4. Boys: 11. Dane Stark, 16:44; 17. Ty Sullivan, 17:00.82; 36. Bayley Steiner, 17:47.97; 44. Isaiah Norton, 18:01.61; 58. Tucker Lunde, 18:31.86; 68. Ben Peterson, 18:44.54; 81. Logan Becker, 19:47.13.

Aberdeen Central Runners — Girls: 12. Juna Ramey, 19:33.86; 39. Morgan VanVeen, 21:35.62; 46. Angie Lopez, 22:11.99; 47. Alivia Burgard, 22:12.78; 48. Khloe Cochran, 22:16.26; 53. Isabella Vrbka, 22:25.68; 58. Alexis Ketterling, 22:40.85. Boys: 15. Tate DeVries, 16:56.43; 18. Joseph Perkins, 17:00.94; 25. Christian Wells, 17:18.88; 27. Sam Schultz, 17:25.77; 38. Patrick Severson, 17:53.03; 43. Tino Lopez, 18:00.33.

Complete results can be found on www.athletic.net.

Clyde Cotton Invite Results: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/225076/info

Brookings Spirit Invitational

BROOKINGS — Watertown High School's competitive cheer squad tied for fifth and the competitive dance squad took 12th in the Brookings Spirit Invitational on Saturday.

Aberdeen Central was 18th in cheer and 10th in dance.

Harrisburg won the cheer division with a score of 273.0, followed by Sioux Falls Jefferson (270.0), Brookings and O'Gorman (260.5), Sioux Valley and Watertown (234.5), Sioux Falls Roosevelt (211.0), Yankton (203.0), Pierre (202.5), Rapid City Central (195.0), Sioux Falls Washington (194.5), Brandon Valley (190.5), Dell Rapids St. Mary (182.0), Sioux Falls Lincoln (181.5), Dell Rapids (179.0), Wagner (174.0), Deubrook Area (169.5), Aberdeen Central (155.0) and Tea Area (102.5).

"We made some errors in timing and execution, which lowered our overall scores from the last competition," said WHS head cheer coach Malory Hoffman. "The girls had a long homecoming week and I'm proud of them for fighting for students, battling tiredness and being loud when several had lost their voices."

Members of Watertown High School's competitive dance team are shown performing during the Brookings Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023.
Members of Watertown High School's competitive dance team are shown performing during the Brookings Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023.

In the grand-champion dance standings, Brandon Valley won with a score of 280.0. Washington was second at 267.0, followed by Yankton at 266.75, Harrisburg 264.75, O'Gorman 256.5, SF Roosevelt 245.75, RC Central 240.0, SF Lincoln 236.0, Pierre 235.75, Aberdeen Central 230.25, SF Jefferson 229.0, Watertown 223.0, Brookings 219.25, Huron 216.5 and Tea Area 210.

"We gave two good performances but still didn't score where we wanted to," said WHS dance coach Carolyn Fraher. "We're going to work in practice on adding a few new skills and cleaning up the routine."

Dance Hip Hop: 1. Washington 272.5; 2. Harrisburg 261.0; 3. O'Gorman 259.5; 3. Roosevelt 256.0; 5. Lincoln 241.5; 6. Aberdeen Central 241.0; 7. RC Central 237.0; 8. SF Jefferson 232.5; 9. Pierre 231.5; 10. Watertown 230.0; 11. Huron 222.0; 12. Brookings 216.5; 13. Tea Area 214.0.

Dance Jazz: 1. Brandon Valley 273.0; 2. Harrisburg 268.5; 3. Yankton 268.0; 4. SF Washington 261.5; 5. SF Lincoln 230.5; 6. Huron 211.0.

Dance Pom: 1. Brandon Valley 287.0; 2. Yankton 265.5; 3. O'Gorman 253.5; 4; RC Central, 243.0; 5. Pierre, 240.0; 6. SF Roosevelt, 235.5; 7. SF Jefferson, 225.5; 8. Brookings 222.0; 9. Aberdeen Central 219.5; 10. Watertown 216.0; 11. Tea Area 207.0.

The Watertown and Aberdeen Central teams compete Tuesday in the Huron Invitational.

Watertown Tennis

ABERDEEN — Watertown High School's girls tennis team pushed its winning streak to 10 with wins over Aberdeen Roncalli and Rapid City Central on Saturday.

The Arrows improved to 14-3 on the season.

"It was a pretty quite ride to Aberdeen today, but the girls got after it right away and played well in singles against Roncalli said Watertown head coach Ryan Zink. "I'm really proud of Cayda. She has a struggled a bit in the last couple of matches but she has found away to turn things around and come out on top."

Watertown hosts Mitchell at 11 a.m. on Tuesday and Roncalli at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Highland Park Courts.

Watertown's Makenna Blank pressures Sioux Falls Washington's Isabella Messenbrink during their high school girls soccer match on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Allen Mitchell Field in Watertown.
Watertown's Makenna Blank pressures Sioux Falls Washington's Isabella Messenbrink during their high school girls soccer match on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Allen Mitchell Field in Watertown.

Watertown 9, Aberdeen Roncalli 0 — Singles: Ellie Zink, W, def. Katherine Kretchman, 10-2; Leyla Meester, W, def. River Haskell, 10-0; Faith Berg, W, def. Raley Haskell, 10-0; Sophia Nichols, W, def. Anna Mitzel, 10-5; Cayda Weiss, W, def. Keira Rivett, 10-6; Karlie Schulte, W, def. Josie Mitzel, 10-1. Doubles: Zink-Meester, W, def. Kretchman-Riv. Haskell, 10-2; Berg-Nichols, W, def. Ral. Haskell-Rivett, 10-5; Weiss-Schulte, W, def. A. Mitzell-J. Mitzell, 10-2.

Watertown 6, RC Central 0 — Singles: Zink, W, def. Angela Limon, 10-1; Meester, W, def. Chenoa Wright, 10-0; Berg, W, def. Kili Cole, 10-0; Nichols, W, def. Kirsten Steinbach, 10-1. No. No. 5 or No. 6 singles matches. Doubles: Zink-Meester, W, def. Limon-Wright, 10-0; Berg-Nichols, W, def. Cole-Steinbach, 10-0. No No. 3 doubles match.

Battler Invite Cross Country

GETTYSBURG —Potter County runners Dannika Kaup and Nicholas Schlachter won individual races Saturday in the Battler Invitational cross country meet at the Gettysburg County Club.

Kaup topped 19 runners in the girls' 5,000-meter run, winning in a time of 19 minutes and 15.2 seconds. Autumn Fallis of Highmore-Harrold (19:31.221), Jadyn Ahlemaier (20:00.55) and Emma Schlachter (20:08.26) of Potter County and Kennadee Wagner of Warner (20:20.01) rounded out the top 5.

Schlachter beat 30 runners in the boys' 5,000, winning in 16:30.82. He was followed by Wamni Kills Crow of McLaughlin (17:07.37), Xavier Kadlec of Ipswich (17:44.53), Jayden Taken Alvin of McLaughlin (17:51.61) and Gavin Hirsch of Herreid-Selby Area (17:58.57.

Complete results can be found at www.athletic.net.

Battler Invite Results: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/226553/info

Mitchell Boys Golf Invite

MITCHELL — Harrisburg and Mac Drake of O'Gorman captured titles on Friday in the Mitchell Boys Golf Invite at the Lakeview Golf Course.

Harrisburg topped the 20-team field with a 295 score, one shot better than O'Gorman. Drake shot a 70 to win medalist honors.

Aberdeen Central took 13th with a 332 score. Cole Brust took fourth to lead the Golden Eagles with a 72. Peyton Brust shot an 83, Carter Blanchard 88 and Jackson Ravellette 89.

Watertown was scheduled to compete but didn't because of homecoming activities. The Arrows host their own invite at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Cattail Crossing Golf Course.

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: Highlights from the other area weekend prep sporting events