Watertown, Aberdeen teams looking to contend in state tennis, golf tourneys

Teams from Watertown and Aberdeen believe they have the pieces to be able to contend for team championships in state high school boys golf and girls tennis tournament next week.

Here's what is on the agenda:

• State AA Boys Golf — Monday and Tuesday at the Lakeview Golf Course in Mitchell. Watertown junior Jake Olson is the defending individual champion and Watertown, fresh off winning another Eastern South Dakota Conference title over the weekend, is going to take another shot at captured its first state championship since 1971. Golfers play 36 holes in two days with play starting at 9 a.m. each day. The top six teams and 25 individuals receive awards.

• State A Boys Golf — Monday and Tuesday at the Moccasin Creek Country Club in Aberdeen. Aberdeen Roncalli, sort of the home team for the two-day tourney, won the Region 1A championship last week and the Cavaliers could challenge in a wide-open field. Golfers play 36 holes in two days with play starting at 9 a.m. each day. The top six teams and 25 individuals receive awards.

• State A Girls Tennis — Monday and Tuesday at the Parkview Tennis Courts and Sioux Park Tennis Complex in Rapid City. The seeding meeting will be held Sunday night and play begins each day at 8 a.m. Aberdeen Roncalli and Milbank are among the 11 teams in the field. This is the fourth year of the Class A tourney and it will conclude with a new team champion since three-time defending champion Mitchell has moved up to AA along with Yankton.

• State AA Girls Tennis — The week concludes with the state Class AA tourney on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 6-7 at the Parkview Tennis Courts and Sioux Park Tennis Complex in Rapid City. The seeding meeting will be held Wednesday night and play beings each day at 8 a.m. The field includes 14 teams, including the Watertown and Aberdeen Central squads that finished second in the Eastern South Dakota Conference tournament on Tuesday and hope to make some noise at state.

Here's a look at each of the tourneys, with an emphasis on the area schools:

AA Boys Golf

After finishing second in 2020, Watertown slipped to third behind champion Sioux Falls O'Gorman and runner-up Sioux Falls Lincoln in the 2021 state tournament. O'Gorman and Lincoln each shot 604s before O'Gorman claimed the team title on the second hole of a playoff. The Arrows finished at 619.

The good news for the Arrows is they return Olson, a junior who shot a 2-under 142 to win the state title by three shots and sophomore Kaden Rylance, who placed 11th last fall after taking second as an eighth-grader in 2020.

"If you've followed high school golf at all these last few years, you know Jake has a chance to repeat," said Watertown head coach Corey Neale. "His game is so good and he has the best mental game of anyone I've ever met."

Watertown repeated as the ESD champion over the weekend and will also feature junior Curtis Sneden and sophomore Ty Lenards, Jaden Solheim and Gabe Norberg.

O'Gorman, led by senior Radley Mauney, is likely the team to beat but the Knights will have to hold off ESD schools Watertown, Harrisburg and Pierre. Mauney finished third in the state tournament last fall. Rapid City Stevens junior Jackson Swartz, who tied for fourth, joins Olson and Mauney as the only top-10 golfers from last year's state tournament who are back.

"It's going to be a tight couple of days. There are four really good teams who could come out on top," said Neale. "Based off this season, I would say that O'Gorman is the favorite. They've won most of the events we've been at but if we play our best we can top them."

The field also includes head coach Matt Brust's Aberdeen Central team that finished eighth in the ESD. Seniors Rylan Dykema and Gavyn Jaragoske, juniors Peyton Brust and Quincy Madsen, sophomore Carter Blanchard and eighth-grader Cole Brust played in the ESD tourney. Peyton Brust tied for 23rd with a 78 and Dykema tied for 25th with a 79.

A Boys Golf

The battle for the team championship could be even more bunched together in the state A tournament on Monday and Tuesday.

Roncalli head coach Jon Murdy feels there's at least seven teams that are in position to make a run, including Chamberlain, West Central, Vermillion, St. Thomas More, Winner, Sioux Valley and Roncalli. Defending champion Tea Area didn't qualify as a team for state.

West Central was second, Vermillion third and Roncalli fourth a year ago.

"It's going to be a fun state tournament where every team that's in it has a chance," said Murdy. "It's going to be some good competition."

Sioux Falls Christian senior Kaleb Jost, the defending state champion, is one of six top-10 finishers from last year who are back. The group includes Tea Area junior Keeton Newborg and St. Thomas More eighth-grader Vincent Van Liere, who tied for fifth last year. Sioux Falls Christian junior Elijah Anema (seventh), Chamberlain junior Dakota Munger (tied for 8th), Dakota Valley sophomore Logan Collette (tied for 10th) and Vermillion sophomore Carter Hansen (tied for 10th) are also back.

Roncalli's contingent includes senior Sawyer Henrich, juniors Andrew Gerlach, eighth-graders Finn Anderson and Lucas Daggett and seventh-grader Harper Schnabel.

"It's kind of a double-edged sword with us being the home team," said Murdy. "We'll have the ability to sleep in our own beds, but then we're not getting together as much as the other teams. It's great that we get to play at Moccasin Creek (it's the home course of three of our five golfers) but there's also some added pressure when it's your home course."

Roncalli won the Region 1A tourney earlier this week at Moccasin Creek, holding off a Sioux Valley team that featured medalist Kyan Overbo.

"One of the big things I tell the kids is that 'I'm never going to ask too much of you,'" said Murdy. "I'm just going to tell them to go out and compete and focus on each shot in the present. If we don't get too far in front of us, we'll have a chance at the end. The minute we starting looking ahead is when we'll have troubles."

Other area golfers in the field include Overbo, Jameson Degen, Kyler Bezdichek, Tate Steffensen and Maverick Nelson of Sioux Valley; Brevin Fliehs, Carter Simon and Cole Simon of Groton Area; Frank Barse of Tiospa Zina; Owen Fischer, Jonathan DeBoer and Joshua Keeton of Milbank; and Mason Gray of Sisseton.

A Girls Tennis

Determining who the favorite is in the Class A tournament is a little interesting, since Mitchell and Yankton have led the field and have moved to Class AA this fall.

All of the returning players that won Class A singles championships or we part of doubles championships in the 2021 state tournament came from Mitchell and Yankton. Those players will now try to battle for Class AA state titles.

The likely favorite could be Pierre, which compiled a 14-5 dual record this fall and finished third in the ESD behind Class AA teams Watertown and Aberdeen Central.

Head coach Jason Haskell of Roncalli has a lineup that includes sophomore Katherine Kretchman (first flight singles), sophomore River Haskell (second flight), sophomore Raley Haskell (third flight), junior Anna Mitzel (fourth flight), freshman Keira Rivett (fifth flight) and eighth-grader Josie Mitzel (sixth flight). Doubles teams include Kretchman-River Haskell (first flight), Raley Haskell-Anna Mitzel (second flight) and Rivett-Josie Mitzel (third flight).

The regular lineup for Milbank and head coach Abbey Trapp has included junior Hope Karels at No. 1 singles, senior Elsie Seffrood at No. 2, junior Amelia Pederson at No. 3, freshman Ashlynn Lamp at No. 4, eighth-grader Jenna Korstjens at No. 5 and eighth-grader Caitlyn Frerichs at No. 6. Doubles teams are Karels-Seffrood (first flight), Lamp-Pederson (second flight) and Korstjens-Frerichs (third flight).

AA Girls Tennis

Defending state champion Rapid City Stevens is the likely favorite and perennial powers Sioux Falls O'Gorman and Lincoln could also challenge for the title in a tourney that just might be a little tighter than typical. That could open the door for the ESD contenders like Watertown and Aberdeen Central.

"Stevens has the upper hand and they should have good seeds throughout," said Watertown head coach Ryan Zink. "O'Gorman has all seniors but one and Lincoln also can't be counted out."

Stevens, O'Gorman and Lincoln each posted 6-3 dual wins over a Watertown team that went 14-3 this fall, but the state-tournament scoring system is much different than a head-to-head dual.

The Arrows have never won a state championship. They finished fifth a year ago and have a likely better team this fall that includes senior Jaida Young, 17-3 at No. 1 singles; sophomore Ellie Zink, 14-6 at No. 2; freshman Leyla Meester, 14-5 at No. 3; senior Josie Heyn, 20-1 at No. 4; sophomore Faith Berg, 19-2 at No. 5 and sophomore Sophia Nichols, 15-6 at No. 6. Young, Heyn and Berg each won ESD titles and Nichols was second.

Young and Meester also won the second flight doubles title in the ESD, improving to 20-0. Zink-Heyn are 13-7 at No. 1 doubles and Berg-Nichols 14-6 at No. 3.

"I don't know if state is going to be much different than ESD," said Zink. "We were right in the mix with a bunch of teams there. It'll come down to seeding and the first-round matches are always huge. I wouldn't count us out. With the way these kids keep fighting, who knows what could happen."

Aberdeen Central, coached by John Vogel, had a strong showing in ESD led by some strong play in doubles. The Golden Eagles also have never won a state championship, but have tallied four runner-up finishes (the last one in 1995).

Seniors Emily Ringgenberg and Alice Vogel (18-7, first flight) and sophomore Reese Comstock and junior Laney Gonsor (20-4, third flight) each won ESD titles and senior Carly Comstock and junior Livia Douglas (22-7, second flight), placed second for the Golden Eagles.

Freshman Avery Tennant (25-3) won the sixth flight singles title and Ringgenberg (16-2, first flight) took third. Vogel is 14-12 at No. 2, C. Comstock 18-10 at No. 3, Douglas 15-9 at No. 4 and Gonsor 17-10 at No. 5.

Returning singles champions are Sioux Falls Jefferson junior Avery Summers (first flight), Lincoln sophomore Charlotte Crawford (second flight) and Stevens seniors Anna Mueller (third flight) and Kaiya Parkin, who won the sixth flight last year but has moved up to the fourth flight.

Eloise Geraets, part of the second-flight doubles champions for Harrisburg last year, is now at Lincoln and plays first flight singles and doubles. McKenzie Vickery and Madelyn Eisenbeisz of Harrisburg won the third flight doubles title last year. Vickery is now at No. 1 doubles and Eisenbeisz at No. 2.

Yankton's Nora and Sabrina Krawjewski each won Class A singles titles last year and Mitchell's Amber Moller, Delaney Degen and Megan Mastel each were part of Class A doubles tandems. Mastel also won a Class A singles title, but has only played doubles this fall.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Preview of next week's state Class AA, A girls tennis, boys golf tourneys