One streak ended for Watertown and another began for Aberdeen Roncalli in the high zone school golf tournaments Monday.
At Moccasin Creek Country Club in Aberdeen, Watertown’s bid for a fourth straight Eastern title South The Dakota Conference championship ended with a fourth-place finish behind Pierre, Harrisburg and Brandon Valley.
At Whetstone Creek Golf Course in Milbank, Aberdeen Roncalli qualified for the Region 1A championship with a score of 348. The Cavaliers won by seven shots against Groton Area, ending the streak of seven titles back-to-back Roncalli regionals last fall.
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ESD Tournament
Pierre won the team title with a score of 22 out of 310, followed by Harrisburg with 322, Brandon Valley 325, Watertown 330, Tea Area 338, Yankton 340, Mitchell 342, Aberdeen Central 348, Brookings 350 and Huron 444.
Sawyer Sonnenschein of Pierre took medalist honors with a 2-over, winning by one stroke over Derek Andersen of Tea Area. Will Peterson of Brandon Valley was third with 76 and Nick Bothun of Pierre and Riley Chritensen of Harrisburg were fourth with 77.
Kaden Rylance led Watertown with a 78, tied for sixth place with Pierre’s Jack Bartlett. Jaden Solheim also earned All-ESD honors for the Arrows (awarded to the top 15 golfers) by placing 13th with an 82. Rounding out the field for the Arrows were Gabe Norberg and Max Stemwedel, tied for 24th with 85; Ty Lenards, tied for 38th with a 90; and Johnathan Lake, tied for 44th with a 94.
Jackson Ravelette earned All-ESD honors for Aberdeen Central by placing 13th with an 82. Cole Brust and Ben Phillips each shot 86 and are tied for 27th. Other Golden Eagle golfers included Kyler Senger, tied for 44th with a 94; Carter Blanchard, 51st with a 97; and Kalen Larson, 52nd with a 98.
Other All-ESD golfers were Hayden Scott of Harrsiburg (eighth, 80); Harrisburg’s Charlie Swift, Brookings’ Tyson Lunn, Pierre’s Luke Olson and Brandon Valley’s Jackson Burns (tied for ninth, 81s); and Lincoln Houska of Pierre, Elijah Larson and Kai Cody of Yankton, Izaac Meyer of Brandon Valley, Sam Titze and Everett Morrison of Mitchell and Landon Baker of Tea Area (tied for 15th with 83s).
Watertown hosts the Class AA National Tournament October 7-8 at Cattail Crossing Golf Course.
Region 1A Tournament
Sioux Valley and Milbank each tied for third at 359 and also qualified as a team for the Class A state tournament Oct. 7-8 at Central Valley Golf Course in Hartford. Madison was fifth with 373, followed by Dell Rapids with 404 and Sisseton with 405.
Brevin Fliehs of Groton Area shot a 7-par 79 and took medalist honors by two strokes over Jonathan DeBoer of Milbank.
The top 19 golfers qualified for state along with other members of the top four teams.
TALAN JURGENS: Talan Jurgens, future college baseball pitcher, is the freshman kicker for the Watertown football team.
Individual qualifiers included Lucas Daggett of Roncalli, third with 83; Roncalli’s Finn Anderson and Sioux Valley’s Tate Steffensen tied for fourth with 84s; Charlie Peery and Owen Fischer of Milbank and Braylon Oftedal of Madison, tied for sixth with 86 seconds; Damon Uecker of Sioux Valley, ninth with an 87; Jameson Degen of Sioux Valley, 10th with an 88; Carter Simon and Logan Pearson of Groton Area and Jesse Hernandez of Aberdeen Roncalli, tied for 11th with 90s; Gannon May of Roncalli, 14th with a 91; Casyn Crabtee of Madison, 15th with a 92; Drew Buresh of Dell Rapids and Mathew Gerlach of Roncalli, tied for 16th with 95s; and Mason Beaner of Madison and Jace Johnson of Groton Area, tied for 18th with 96.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or by email: [email protected]
This article was originally published on Watertown Public Opinion: Highlights from the ESD and Region 1A boys golf tournaments
