Past week's highlights for area athletes in golf, soccer, tennis, cross country & cheer-dance

It's been a busy past week for area athletes competing in soccer, boys' golf, girls' tennis, cross country and cheer and dance.

Here's some highlights (Saturday through Thursday) from those sports:

Boys Golf

Watertown shot 301 and won the Yankton Invite by seven shots on Sept. 13, led by medalist Ty Lenards' 1-under 71. Jonathan Lake tied for fourth (75) and Gabe Norberg tied for eighth (76) for the Arrows. Jerome Zebroski tied for 18th at 78.

Aberdeen Central shot 353 and took 14th. Ben Phillips and Cole Brust each tied for 46th with 86s for the Golden Eagles.

In the Brookings Invite on Monday, Watertown was third at 293, 11 shots behind Harrisburg and one shot behind Pierre. Lenards fired a 3-under 69 to take third. Solheim tied for 12th (73), Norberg tied for 14th (75) and Stemwedel tied for 17th (76). Kaden Rylance didn't play at Yankton and withdrew after a few holes at Brookings due to stitches in his hand.

The Arrows host the Watertown Invite on Tuesday at Cattail Crossing Golf Course.

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In the Redfield Invite on Tuesday, Aberdeen Ronncalli shot 307 and edged the Watertown junior varsity by eight shots for the title. Groton Area was third at 316, followd by Sioux Valley (324), Milbank (332), Sisseton (354) and Redfield (370).

Finn Anderson of Roncalli won medalist honors with an even-par 70, one shot ahead of Jonathan DeBoer of Milbank. Gavin Neynes of Watertown's jv was third at 72, followed by Maverick Nelson of Sioux Valley and Brevin Fliehs of Groton Area with 74s.

Watertown's Jaden Solheim chips out of the bunker on the ninth hole at the Brookings Country Club during the Bill Scholten Invitational on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024.
Watertown's Jaden Solheim chips out of the bunker on the ninth hole at the Brookings Country Club during the Bill Scholten Invitational on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024.

Soccer

Watertown's boys (9-1-1 overall) bounced back from a loss to Sioux Falls Lincoln on Thursday to blank Mitchell 5-0 on Saturday and Brandon Valley 3-0 on Tuesday in road matches.

Riley Fischer had a goal and two asssits and Patrick Bednarczyk and Dawson Hartman a goal and an assist apiece against Mitchell. Braxten Endres and Parker Meek also scored and goalkeeper Owen Muller made three saves. Fischer, Endres and Skyler Stanton each scored against Brandon Valley with Jacob Sadler, Alex Raml and Fischer notching assists and Muller nine saves.

Madison Enstad recorded 14 and seven saves for the Arrow girls, who fell to 2-9 with a 1-0 loss to Mitchell on Saturday and a 4-0 loss to Brandon Valley on Tuesday.

Aberdeen Central's boys (6-2-3) beat Tea Area 7-0 on Tuesday with two goals by Linus Johnson and a goal and an assist by Derek Arunasalam. Antonio Buedo Ruiez, Gus Bjerknes, Derek Holland Tyler Bain also scored. Aberdeen Central's girls (4-5-2) tied with Tea Area 0-0. The Golden Eagles suffered 1-0 losses to Sioux Falls Lincoln on Thursday.

Groton Area's second-rated Class B girls blasted Vermillion 10-0 with three goals and three assists from McKenna Tietz. Ryelle Gilbert, Sydney Locke, Brooklyn Hansen, Liz Fliehs, Laila Roberts, Brenna Imrie and Jerica Locke also scored. Roberts, B. Hansen, Carly Gilbert and Kennedy Hansen also added assists and Jaedyn Penning made eight saves. The Tigers (6-1-1) also beat Dakota Valley 1-0 on Laila Roberts' late goal off a corner kick by B. Hansen.

Vermillion defeated Groton's boys 8-0, who rebounded to beat Dakota Valley 5-2 with two goals by Logan Olson and one each by Easton Weber, Karson Zak and Ethan Kroll.

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Girls Tennis

Watertown upped its to 13-3 by sweeping Brookings and Rapid City Central each 9-0 on Friday at Brookings, posting 8-1 wins over Huron and Pierre on Saturday in Huron and downing Sioux Falls Roosevelt 9-0 and Harrisburg 8-1 on Tuesday in Sioux Falls.

No. 1 Ellie Zink, No. 2 Leyla Meester, No. 3 Faith Berg and No. 5 Cayda Weiss each went 6-0 in singles and No. 3 Sophia Nichols and No. 6 Jade Smith each 5-1 in singles for the Arrows. In doubles, Zink-Meester at No. 1 and Weiss-Smith at No. 3 each were 6-0 and Berg-Nichols 5-1 at No. 2 doubles.

The Arrows and Milbank, which fell to 0-7 with a 9-0 dual loss to Vermillion on Tuesday, are slated to play Saturday in the Elliott Extravaganza hosted by Aberdeen Central and Roncalli.

Aberdeen Central (11-7) won 8-1 and Aberdeen Roncalli (4-8) lost 9-0 to St. Thomas More on Monday. Julie Knie, Avery Tennan, Reese Comstock, Chloe Ladner, Sarah Knie and Ashley Ortega helped Aberdeen Central sweep in singles. J. Knie-Tennant also won at No. 1 doubles and Madalynn Holman-Estelle Riggs at No. 3 doubles.

Cross Country

Watertown's runners competed Sept. 14 in the Heartland Preview at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls. Saturday at Clyde Cotton Invite in Huron.

The Arrow girls finished 10th with a score of 256, led by Grace McElroy's 17th-place finish (19:05.7) in the 5,000-meter girls division race. Kate McElroy was 37th (20:25.10) out of 146 runners. Ella Boekelheide of Northwestern took seventh (18:30.30). The Arrow boys finished ninth with a score of 280, led Ty Sullivan (19th, 16:22.9). Dane Stark was 31st (16:34.5) for the Arrows out of 211 runners.

In the Milbank Grandstay Invitational, Dylan Gerdes of Madison (16:40.27, boys) and Faith Wiese of Flandreau (18:07.59, girls) won races.

Kamryn Nesheim of Clark-Willow Lake had a big week, winning the girls' 5,000 (20:33.53) in the Don Ray Invitational hosted by Deubrook Area on Saturday, the Webster Invitational (20:30.28) on Monday and Aberdeen Roncalli Invite (21:46.58) on Thursday.

Sutton Benck of Deuel (18;11.31) won the boys division in the Don Ray Invite. Ryder Graff of Sisseton was second in the boys division (18:13.49) at Webster and won the Roncalli Invite (19:18.94).

In Monday's Arlington Invite at the Lake Region Golf Course, Arlington's Kaelyn Ulschmid was second (21:28.72) in the girls division race. Nate Timm of Elkton-Lake Benton won the boys' race in 18:12.97, followed by Nolan Eidson of Castlewood (18:25.76) and Lance Kaufman of Arlington (19:02.56).

Miller's Madeline Nye (girls, 20:01.47) and Pierce Baumberger (boys, 16:35.25) won races in the Ipswich Meet on Saturday. Mya Peskek's fourth-place finish (20:44) in the girls division led Canby-Minneota's girls to a runner-up finish in the Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd Invite at Madison (Minn.) on Tuesday.

In the Big Dakota Conference-Garry Winter-Chamberlain Invite on Thursday at Chamberlain, Maci Licht of Sioux Valley won the girls' 5,000-meter race in 19:47. Sioux Valley won the girls division with a score of 21. Baumberger (17:57) won the boys' race.

Complete cross country results can be found on athletic.net.

Watertown High School's competitive cheer squad compets the Huron Invitational on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in the Huron Arena. The Arrows finished fourth out of 11 teams.
Watertown High School's competitive cheer squad compets the Huron Invitational on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in the Huron Arena. The Arrows finished fourth out of 11 teams.

Cheer-Dance

Watertown's competitive cheer squad took fourth and the dance team sixth in the Huron Invitational on Tuesday.

Class A Sioux Valley won the 11-team cheer divisionw ith a score of 264, followed by Brookings at 262.5. Mitchell edged Watertown 221.5-221.0 for third. Aberdeen Central took eighth at 199.5.

Watertown High School's competitive dance squad performs its jazz routine in the Huron Invitational on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in the Huron Arena. The Arrows finished third in jazz and sixth overall.
Watertown High School's competitive dance squad performs its jazz routine in the Huron Invitational on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in the Huron Arena. The Arrows finished third in jazz and sixth overall.

Harrisburg won the nine-team dance division with a score of 280.25. Aberdeen Central was fourth (244.75) and Watertown sixth (211.75) Aberdeen Central was third in hip hop (246.5 and third in pom (245). Watertown was third in jazz (218) and fifth in pom (205.5).

Watertown, Aberdeen Cental and Sioux Valley will compete in the Brookings Invite on Saturday.

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: Area other sports' highlights from the past week

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