What you need to know about the 2022-23 Watertown wrestling team

Few wrestling programs around the state have the same rich tradition that Watertown High School does and 2022-23 Arrows are certainly expecting to keep a good thing going.

The Arrows went 13-4 in duals last winter, including 6-2 in the Eastern South Dakota Conference; won their third-straight Region 1A championship; and moved up in both the state individual (third from fourth in 2020) and dual (fourth after first-round loss in 2020) tournaments.

Head coach Chas Welch and assistants Aaron Atlhoff, Scott Stone, Dexter Gaikowski and Nate Althoff welcome back a squad that includes seven returning state place winners.

"We return a good nucleus of talent and will look to the upperclassmen to set the tone for the season," said Welch. "We will also have a great group of younger wrestlers who will make an immediate impact in the wrestling room and in the starting lineup as well."

Here's what else you need to know about the Arrows, who open their season Thursday by facing Yankton and Beresford/Alcester-Hudson in a triangular at Beresford before returning home to host the Marv Sherrill Duals on Saturday in the Civic Arena.

A strong group of returnees

Leading the way for the Arrows is a group of returning state place winners highlight by two-time individual state champion Sloan Johannsen, who capped a 50-0 season with the 113-pound state Class A title last winner. He is 84-1 with two state titles in two seasons with the Arrows.

Also back are senior Braden Le, who went 38-23 and placed fourth at 120 pounds; senior Weston Everson, another two-time state place winner who went 31-20 and placed sixth at 132 last winter; senior Ian Johnson, who went 40-21 and placed third at 152; senior Jax Kettwig, who went 35-21 and placed fifth at 160; junior Brock Eitreim, another two-time state place winner who was 41-12 and took sixth at 195; and sophomore Micah Hach, who was 41-15 and placed third at 285.

Trackwrestling.com lists Johannsen at 126, Everson 132, Johnson 170, Kettwig 182, Eitreim 220 and Hach 285 but a new system is being used this year that limits how many pounds wrestlers can lose in a certain amount of time so Welch says it might take until after the holidays before Watertown's lineup will look the way they're expecting it to.

"Our lineup is going to look a lot different Thursday or Saturday than it will later in the season," said Welch.

Senior Jackson Maag (18-21), sophomore Nathan Briggs (15-13), junior Derek Hanson (14-20) and sophomore Leo Stroup (14-26) also saw considerable varsity action last winter. They will join with a host of newcomers to fill out the remainder of the lineup.

For the first time, Watertown will have girls wrestlers

After two years as a sanctioned sport in the South Dakota High School Activities Association, Watertown will have girls wrestlers competing for the first time this year.

Currently, a group of 11 girls are practicing and getting ready to compete on the mat. For the most part, the girls will follow the schedule of the boys. The events will not only feature the varsity boys competition, but also junior varsity boys and girls matches.

"It's been good so far," said Welch. "We have girls who have wrestled since the age of 5 and a bunch who have never even watched a match before.

Who are the powers to be in the ESD, Class A?

Brandon Valley won the ESD dual team championship and capped a 30-0 season by beating Rapid City Stevens 32-25 in the state Class A dual championship. The Lynx also repeated as the Class A champion in the individual tourney with an all-time record 252 points.

A strong returning cast will make the Lynx tough to beat again. They'll receive challenges from a number of the regulars in both the conference and state.

"It's going to be all the usual suspects again," said Welch. "Brandon Valley, Pierre and Harrisburg will be good again in the ESD. There's not going to be an easy dual anywhere in the ESD. Rapid Stevens will also be there in state along with Sturgis."

Welch feels there's no reason that the Arrows can't be in the mix in both the conference and state.

"We've got the seven state place winners returning and some pretty good young kids coming in," he said. "It just might take until after Christmas for us to get to full strength. We'll have to wrestle well on Saturday to not take a loss that might hurt us later on, but every other team is in the same boat."

More chances to see Watertown wrestle at home

The Arrows had only two events in the Civic Arena last winter and didn't wrestle at home after Dec. 16. The schedule is much different this winter.

Watertown not only hosts the Marv Sherrill Duals on Saturday but will also host Pierre (Jan. 12), Milbank (Jan. 19), Aberdeen Central and Harrisburg (Jan. 26 triangular), Huron (Feb. 2) and Brandon Valley and Mitchell (Feb. 9 triangular).

The Arrows again will compete in the Rapid City Invite (Dec. 9-10), Sioux Falls Washington Warrior Invite (Dec. 17), Sioux Falls Lincoln Floyd Farrand Invite (Dec. 29), Bismarck Rotary (Jan. 6-7), Mitchell Jerry Opbroek Invite (Jan. 14), Sioux City Bishop Heelan (Jan. 21) and Aberdeen Lee Wolf Invite (Jan. 28).

Watertown will close out the season with the Region 1A tournament Feb. 18 at Madison and the state tournament Feb. 23-24 at Rapid City.

Here's the schedule for Saturday's Marv Sherrill Duals

Eight teams are scheduled to compete in the tourney, which will open at 10 a.m. After three pool duals, teams will be matched in place matches.

Mat 1: Watertown vs. Huron, Watertown vs. Canby (Minn.) and Watertown vs. Mitchell.

Mat 2: Canby vs. Mitchell, Huron vs. Mitchell and Huron vs. Canby.

Mat 3: Tea Area vs. Yankton, Tea Area vs. Aberdeen Central and Tea Area vs. Milbank.

Mat 4: Aberdeen Central vs. Milbank, Yankton vs. Milbank and Aberdeen Central vs. Yankton.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Seven state place winners return to lead the way for the Arrows.