Watertown's wrestlers enjoyed another outstanding season in 2022-23

It's not completely accurate to call this the best season in 20 years for Watertown High School's wrestling team. but it's certainly in the running.

Yes, the Arrows recorded a runner-up finish in the state Class A individual tourney — their highest finish since winning the title in 2003 — and also finished third in the Class A duals.

Really, it was just another great season for a program that again is one of the best in the state.

"Not much, that's for sure," said Watertown head coach Chas Welch when asked what more the Arrows could have done last week in the 2023 South Dakota State High School Wrestling Championship at Rapid City. "The guys wrestled very well. It was a lot fun, that's for sure. Everybody wrestled above their seeds and kind of fed off each other.

"The girls also wrestled incredible. They were beating girls they lost to previously. It was a very impressive performance."

How did the season go for the Arrow boys?

Pretty much the same as it has in recent years for the Arrows, who compiled a 13-4 dual record including 6-2 in the Eastern South Dakota Conference.

Watertown fell short of its annual goal of competing for the ESD dual title, but otherwise was solid. The Arrows won the Bismarck (N.D.) Rotary Invitational, Sioux Falls Washington Warrior Invite and Lee Wolf Invite at Aberdeen; finished second in the Marv Sherrill Duals, Sioux Falls Lincoln Floyd Farrand Invite and Yankton Invite; and added third-place finishes in the Rapid City Invite and Jerry Obroek Invite at Mitchell.

"We were pretty strong from start to finish," said Welch, who was assisted again by Aaron Althoff and Scott Stone. "A lot of that had to do with the number of seniors we had and the leadership they provided."

When it counted most, the Arrows captured their fourth-straight Region 1A title and did everything they could to challenge defending champion and top-rated Brandon Valley for team titles at state in both the individual and dual team tourneys. Brandon Valley won its third-straight individual title with 208.5 points and Watertown edged Pierre 184.5-182 for second place.

In the dual tourney, Watertown opened with a 53-18 win over West Central and battled Brandon Valley to a 36-36 draw in the semifinals before losing on a tiebreaker 37-36. The Arrows rebounded to top Sturgis 42-33 for third place.

"I knew if we had a good weekend at state, we'd be right there," said Welch. "We knew things would have to go very well and they did. The kids all wrestled extremely offensively. Every kid kept looking for bonus points and wins."

It's takes good wrestlers to have a good team

Tthe 2022-23 Arrows had plenty of good wrestlers. Two of them, junior Sloan Johannsen (51-0 at 120 pounds) and eighth-grader Gage Lohr (47-4), each capped their seasons with state Class A individual titles.

The state title was the third for Johannsen, who is 135-1 in his career and has won an incredible 132-straight matches. He'll have a chance next winter to reach his goal of becoming only the second Arrow wrestler in history to win four state titles.

Senior Braden Le (37-14, 132) and sophomore Micah Hach (44-5, 285) each added second-place finishes at state for the Arrows. Other place winners included senior Weston Everson (48-8, third at 126), junior Derek Hanson (28-21, seventh at 138), senior Ian Johnson (38-17, seventh at 152), senior Jax Kettwig (34-19, eighth at 170), senior Jackson Maag (37-21, fifth at 182), junior Brock Eitreim (40-7, third at 195) and senior Matthew Peters (34-17, fourth at 220). Watertown led all schools with 11 place winners in the tourney.

Other state qualifiers included sophomore Leo Stroup, 29-21 at 113, and freshman Markus Pitkin (19-16 at 145). Freshman Keslar Swenson (8-7, 126), senior RJ Nichols (6-13, 138), junior Tucker Urdahl (10-17, 160) and sophomore Ethan Wientjes (7-10, 195) also wrestled in the state dual tourney for the Arrows.

"Up and down our lineup, the kids just wrestled incredible," said Welch. "It was great to see them put it all together at the right time."

Seniors Everson, Nichols, Le, Johnson, Kettwig, Maag and Peters each closed out their Arrow careers.

"We're definitely going to have to develop some guys and put some new faces into the lineup," said Welch. "Plenty of them know their time is coming. They'll step up and be ready to go."

The debut season for the Arrow girls

Girls wrestling just finished its third season as a sanctioned sport in South Dakota and the numbers keep growing at an astronomical pace. Watertown joined in the act this winter and started competing at the varsity level with a group of 12 wrestlers under the direction of coach Dexter Gaikowski.

Many of the Arrows were first-year wrestlers. The one exception was senior Hope Orr, a two-time state place winner who came from Viborg-Hurley. Orr, one of two seniors along with Allison Rokusek, compiled a 27-5 record that was highlighted by a second-place finish at 285 pounds in the state tournament.

Five Arrows qualified for state and four of them placed to help Watertown take eighth out of 52 teams with 53 points. Seventh-grader Olivia Anderson (36-14, fourth at 106), freshman Allison Konrad (25-15, fifth at 190) and freshman Katelyn Yexley ( 20-27, fifth at 132) also placed and sophomore April Peterson (19-18 at 154) also wrestled at state.

The squad included Rokusek (0-8 at 126), junior Hayden Thomas (8-16 at 120), sophomore Jeryn Fieber (5-23 at 126), junior Kaitlynn Payne (4-17 at 120), freshman Emma Wientjes (3-12 at 142), freshman Harlie Thiewes (1-2 at 106) and junior Karlie Schulte (0-1 at 170).

It likely won't take long for the Watertown to have one of the best girls programs in the state.

"Hope was the only girl who had wrestled in the state tournament before," said Welch. "The girls showed 100-percent improvement throughout the season. To have as many state qualifiers and place winners as they did was certainly incredible and a lot of fun."

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on Twitter @PO_Sports.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Arrows finished second (individuals) and third (duals) in Class A.