Area highlights from wrestling, hockey, gymnastics and basketball

Here's some highlights and top performers from recent high school wrestling and gymnastics events, South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association games and Dec. 17-18 high school basketball.

Boys Wrestling

• Shea Richter (132 pounds) and Gage Lohr (157) each won titles and five other wrestlers placed to lead Watertown to a third-place finish out of 50 schools in the Rapid City Invite on Dec. 12-13. The Arrows scored 169.5 points. Aberdeen Central placed six wrestlers and took ninth with 110 points.
• Kingsbury County took second in the Ken Ruml Invite at Howard on Dec. 13, scoring 160.5 points and crowning Chase Henriksen (126 pounds) and Blake Jennings (150) as champions. Haeden Jorgenson of Webster Area won at 150.
• Groton Area won the Baltic Invite on Dec. 13 with 180 points and seven champions: Keegan Kucher at 120, Kyson Kucher at 126, Noah Scepaniak at 132, Aiden Strom at 138, Donavan Block at 157-165, Layne Johnson at 215 and Gavin Englund at 285.
• Oakes, ND edged Sisseton 196.5-196 for the team title in the Faulkton Area Invite on Dec. 13. Mathias Dahlstrom won at 150 for Oakes. John Sandal (98), Kayden Tchida (113), Evan Folk (132), Blake Steiner (138) and Holden Hawkins (165) each won for Sisseton. Other area champs were Kyson Sundberg (106) and Owen Vandeweerd (285) of Sioux Valley, Cade Gaikowski (120) and Cooper Pommer (144) of Clark-Willow Lake, Cash Edgar (126) and Landon Coyle (157) of Faulkton Area and Ben Suther (175) and Tucker Hardy (190) of Britton-Hecla.

• Pierre downed Aberdeen Central 39-27 in an Eastern South Dakota Conference dual on Dce. 16. Henry Gillen (106 pounds), Bailey Gillen (113), Jackson Dargatz (126), Porter Lozenski (157), Ridley Waldo (165) and Owen Ward (190) each won for AC. Lozenksi and Waldo recorded falls and Ward won by technical fall.
• Emerson Sine of Tiospa Zina won the 113-pound division in the Lakota Nation Invite on Dec. 16.
• Clark-Willow Lake went 3-0 (beating Sioux Valley 48-33, Flandreau 55-21 and McCook Central-Montrose 45-33) in the McCook Central-Montrose Duals on Dec. 16. Sioux Valley went 0-3, also falling to McCook Central-Montrose 36-32 and Flandreau 42-24. Cade Gaikowski (120), Benny Pommer (126), Kaden Wookey (132), Cooper Pommer (144), Isaac Johnson (157) and Austin Vig (165) each went 3-0 for CWL. Triston Kurtenbach (106-113), Gile Rud (175), Wyatt Hardt (190-215) and Owen Vanderweerd each were 3-0 for SV.
• Sioux Valley also went 0-3 (losing to Garretson 45-33, Mount Vernon-Plankinton/Corsica-Stickney 53-30 and Parker 48-46) on Dec. 18. Vanderweerd recorded three falls at 285. Kyson Sundberg (106) and Hardt (190) each also were 3-0.
• Gettysburg lost to Stanley County 48-36 and beat Sully Buttes 54-24 in duals on Dec. 18. Easton Rausch (120), Lukas Fersch (132), Ayden Forgey (165) and Trace Genzler (175) each won twice for the Battlers.

Girls Wrestling

• Watertown finished second (190 points) and Aberdeen Central fourth (163) in the Rapid City Invite on Dec. 12-13. Brooklynn Randall (115), Olivia Anderson (120) and Eden Hach (235) each won titles and Vanessa Anderson (105) and Allison Konrad (190) each took second for Watertown. Jasmine Maas (115) and Lilly Nelson (170) each were runner-ups for AC. Summer Guthmiller of Sioux Valley won at 155.
• Clark-Willow Lake took third (85.5) and Kingsbury County fourth (81) in the Baltic Invite on Dec. 13. Area champions included Liza Krueger of Groton Area (110), Macee McGregor of Webster Area (114), Payden Coughlin of Kingsbury County (125), Naomi Miller of Clark-Willow Lake (135) and Lilliya Meek of Faulkton Area (145).
• Abredeen Central fell 56-18 to Pierre in a dual on Dec. 16. Madison Little (115) and Lin Paw Jone (155) each won by fall and Lilly Nelson (170) by forfeit for AC.
• Reegan Cook of Tiospa Zina finished second at 135 pounds in the Lakota National Invitational tournament on Dec. 16.

MORE TOP PERFORMERS: South Dakota's winter high school sports seasons kicking into high gear

Gymnastics

• Class AA Brookings topped Class A Estelline-Hendricks 141.20-135.35 in a dual on Dec. 15 at The Barn in Hendricks, MN. Maggie Hausman of EH won the balance beam (9.25), floor exercise (9.6) and all-around (356.45) and teammate Riah Hartung won the vault (9.2).
• Deuel won the Britton-Hecla Christmas Meet on Dec. 16 with a score of 136.55. Sisseton followed at 131.95, Britton-Hecla 130.6 and Milbank Area (129.95). Layce Andersen of Deuel won the all-around (34.55) and tied for first in the uneven bars with teammate Brooklyn Tanner (8.0). Hannah Cutshaw of Deuel won the balance beam (9.05) and took second in the all-around (34.5). Adysyn Wiesner of Deuel (vault, 9.0) and Macyn Dunnihoo of Milbank Area (floor exercise, 9.4) also won events.

Boys Hockey

• Goalie Kohl Nygaard recorded 41 saves for the Watertown Lakers in a 3-0 loss to Sioux Falls East on Dec. 12. Watertown fell to 2-2 in SDAHA play.
• Andrew Weisenburger made 23 saves for the Aberdeen Cougars in a 4-0 loss to Siux Falls East. Aberdeen slipped to 1-2 in SDAHA play.

Girls Basketball

• Lakota Nation Invite — Lower Brule 59 (Florence Charger 17, Larayah St. Cloud 15), Tiospa Zina 26 (Milani Smith 6, Zitkana Cook 5) on Dec. 17 and Dupree 40 (Madiynn Red Bear 22 plus 10 rebounds), Tiospa Zina 36 (Krius Haukaas 10, Ziah Crawford 9, Faith Fourstar 8 rebounds) on Dec. 18 in the 48th Lakota Nation Invitational at Rapid City.
• Dec. 18 — No. 4 Class A Sioux Valley 81 (Talya Vincent 21, Kailey Cradduck 16 plus 7 rebounds, Liberty Trygstad 15, Amari Ward 11), Baltic 21 (Meredith Larson 10 plus 7 rebounds) ... No. 8 Class B Deubrook Area 74 (Kylee Johnson 13, Mataya Gouws and Peyton Trooien 10 each, Matte Bauman 9), Oldham-Ramona-Rutland 24 (Brynnlee Lingbeck 10) ... Leola-Frederick Area 35 (Karli Achen 11 plus 8 rebounds, Kaitlyn Mueller 8), Aberdeen Christian 20 (Jolie Fogarty 8, Ari Johnson 7) ... Aberdeen Roncalli 44 (Gabby Thomas 13, Claire Crawford 11), Warner 38 (Kaydee Mackner 17, MaKenna Leidholt 9) ... Highmore-Harrold 60 (Jada Baloun 17 plus 12 rebounds, Autumn Fallis and Addison McDonnell each 10 plus 7 rebounds), Gettysburg 42 (Emma Schlachter 17, Finlee Hein 10).

OTHER BASKETBALL: Carter Buisker takes over to lift Watertown's boys to overtime victory

Boys Basketball

• Lakota Nation Invite — Tiospa Zina 65 (Jeffery Heminger 17 plus 6 rebounds, Isaac Rodlund 14, Ohtik Black Thunder 10), Santee, NB 29 (Jake Staab 10 plus 9 rebounds) on Dec. 17 and Wakpala 52 (Tavaughn Steele 24 plus 12 rebounds, Lawrence Gooden 19 plus 12 rebounds), Tiospa Zina 43 (Heminger 14, Black Thunder 9, Blake Dumarce 8) on Dec. 18 in the 48th Lakota Nation Invitational at Rapid City.
• Dec. 18 — No. 8 Class B Aberdeen Christian 70 (Luke Kaiser 18, Charles Eichler 16, Loyall Smith-Wade 14), Leola-Frederick Area 62 (Winston Clark 15, Milo Sumption 14, Westyn Thorpe 10) ... Baltic 64 (Kellen Artz 24 plus 13 rebounds, Dylan Runestad 15, Cooper Garry 13), Sioux Valley 61 (Brady Hiltunen 24, Connor Reif 16, Carter Sapp 9).

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Top performers, recent highlights for high school sports