SPORTS

The Meet the Arrows' preseason scrimmages for Watertown High School boys and girls basketball teams will be held Friday night in the Civic Arena. The scrimmages, which are open to the public, are set to start at 6 p.m. The Arrow teams open their seasons on Friday, Dec. 8 with...

Emery Thury of Watertown crashed an all-Sioux-Falls-area party today when she was named to the Class AA South Dakota All-State Volleyball Team. Thury, a 5-foot-8 junior, led the Arrows to a 27-7 regular-season record and a consolation championship at the State Tournament in Rapid City. She finished the season with 375 kills, 53 aces and 303 digs.

The Watertown Baseball Association is now accepting nominations for the Class of 2024 of the Watertown Baseball Hall of Fame. Nominations are now being accepted through Dec. 31. A link to the nomination form is available here (or online at www.thepublicopinion.com). ...

Thirteen Watertown and Aberdeen area players are being honored today as members of the South Dakota Volleyball Coaches Association's 2023 All-State volleyball teams. The honorees include Emery Thury of Watertown and Grace Kuch of Aberdeen Central in Class AA; Tevan Erickson of Elkton-Lake Benton in Class A; and Ava Nilsson, Lauren Marcuson and Kyleigh Schopp of Warner, Ashley Haven of Northwestern, Presley Knecht of Castlewood, Katelyn Schroeder of Hitchcock-Tulare and Addison Melius of Faulkton Area in Class B.

Four players each from Miller and Mobridge-Pollock have been named to the 2023 All-Big Dakota Conference volleyball team. Jolie Palmer, Aleah Schlechter, Heather Resel and Shaylee Anderberg each made the team from Miller. They were joined by Charley Henderson, Reagan Weisbeck, Katy Kemnitz and Ryli Thompson of Mobridge-Pollock. Rounding out...

The Watertown Lakers' varsity boys and girls hockey teams each opened their 2023-24 seasons with home games over the weekend in the Maas Ice Arena. The girls opened Friday with a 6-1 South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association loss to the Sioux Falls Flyers and the boys followed with an 8-1 SDAHA victory over the Brandon Valley Ice Cats on Saturday. ...

In the history of Class A wrestling in South Dakota seven athletes have won four state wrestling titles. Brandon Valley senior Navarro Schunke joined that during his junior season when he defeated Watertown’s Micah Hach for his fourth consecutive state title. As an eighth-grader Schunke finished 39-2 and won...

Anyway you look at it, the 2023 season was definitely a very successful one for the Watertown High School volleyball team. The Arrows compiled a 27-7 record, the third most wins in the 34-year history of program, and finished second in the Eastern South Dakota Conference with an 8-1 record. They also snapped a two-year state tournament drought and, after struggling in an opening-round loss, closed with two wins and the consolation championship. ...

The Oahe Lady Capitals will have a double dip on the opening weekend of the season the Caps travel to Mitchell Saturday afternoon and then to Watertown Sunday afternoon. The Capitals are returning all but three players from last year’s team. Sara Bierne and Alyssa Stahl, both skaters and goalie Abigail Stewart-Fromm. The Capitals this season will look for more offense and scoring as Brylee Kafka, a junior returns after scoring a team leading 18 goals, the only Capital to accomplish the feat last season. Jim Wedin, the head coach says he can see the growth of this team heading into the season…

Editor's Note: Sports writer Roger Merriam has been compiling a "20 Favorites" series highlighting some of his favorite athletes in a variety of high school sports since he started working at the Watertown Public Opinion in December of 1984. This story is a play off that and is called "30 Favorites", taking a look at 30 or more of the best high school coaches he's worked with during his tenure. There are so, so many coaches I need to thank...

Seven members of the Watertown Arrows football team were selected to the Class 11AA All-State team chosen by the South Dakota Football Coaches Association. Among the honorees were senior running back Juven Hudson, senior offensive lineman Caden Beauchamp, senior linebacker Austin Johnson and senior special teams player Owen Sparts. Three Arrow juniors also made the All-State team, including tight end/full back Spencer Wientjes, defensive back Jeremiah Schulte and defensive lineman Micah Hach.

Conference champions Aberdeen Roncalli (Northeast Conference) and Flandreau and Castlewood (Lake Central Conference) each have three players named to their respective all-conference volleyball teams for 2023. Roncalli won the NEC with a 10-0 record and Flandreau and Castlewood shared the LCC title with 5-1 marks. Here are the all-conference teams:

Six players from Wolsey-Wessington hAVE been honored on the All-281 Conference volleyball team. Seniors Lainey Uttecht and Kailyn Dorris made the first team for Warbirds. Junior Samara Clemente and sophomore Kendal Uttecht each made the second team and Payton Kemnitz the third team. Shae Uttecht received honorable mention. Other first-team selections are Hitchcock-Tulare juniors...

WATERTOWN – Brylee Kafka continued her great start to the season with a hat trick Sunday as the Oahe Capital girls earned their first win of the season, 4-2 over the Watertown Lakers at Maas Ice Arena. Kafka scored once in the first period and twice in the second...

Watertown High School's football team is reaping the rewards of its best season since 2013. The Arrows, who went 7-4 and reached the state Class 11AA semifinals, have seven players named to the South Dakota Football Coaches Association's 2023 All-State football teams that are being released today. The teams total 29 area players along with 10 others who received honorable mention.

{KXLG -Watertown, SD} An update was posted from the mother, Melissa Bruckner, of the family that endured a devastating fire on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, just after midnight. The girls, Harper and Charley Jo received severe burns, and in a Caring Bridge update yesterday, it said they were being transferred to the PICU.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Raderschadt is a state Class AA and Eastern South Dakota Conference place winner in the shot put

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Arrow standout enters senior season with 135-1 career record and a 132-match win streak

RAPID CITY — The Burke Cougars defeated Castlewood Friday to claim a third place finish at the 2023 South Dakota Class B state volleyball tournament. The set scores were 25-22, 25-23 and 25-21. Emmie Hausmann led the Cougars with 14 kills, an assist, two aces and seven digs. Kailee Frank led Burke’s efforts with 11 digs and she added an assist, an ace and 15 digs. Ava Sarget led in assists with 18 and she added two aces and five digs. Paige Bull finished with eight kills, two digs and had a solo block and four block assists while Piper Hanson had four digs and an assist. Elle Johnson had two assists and 13 digs.

RAPID CITY — Top-seeded Sioux Falls Christian continues to rule South Dakota Class A volleyball. The Chargers (35-4) captured their seventh-straight Class A title Saturday night with a 3-1 win over second-seeded Rapid City Christian (35-6) in the tournament championship in the Summit Arena at The Monument. The title didn't come easy for the...