WATERTOWN — Wrestling squads from Watertown and Aberdeen Central each enjoyed successful openings to the 2025-26 seasons.Watertown’s boys handled Beresford/Alcester-Hudson 58-18 and Yankton 51-25 in a triangular on Dec. 4 at Yankton and then went 4-0 on Dec. 6 in the Marv Sherrill Duals tournament in the Watertown Civic Arena. The Arrows beat Mitchell 72-12, Canby (MN) 63-18, Tea Area 53-24 and Milbank 72-12.Watertown’s girls topped Yankton 33-21 and Beresford/Alcester-Hudson 36-30 in duals on Dec. 4 and then crowned four champions in the Watertown Girls Invitational tournament on Dec. 5 in the Civic Arena.2025-26 WRESTLING PREVIEW: Watertown, Aberdeen Central & other area wrestlers expect good things this winterBraylon Schell (106 pounds), Jonah Anderson (113), Chase Mathews (126), Shea Richter (132), Kutler Swenson (144), Gage Lohr (157), Markus Pitkin (165), Landen Lewis (175) and Cade Kuemper (190) each went 4-0 in the Marv Sherrill Duals for the Arrow boys. Schell, Richter, Swenson and Kuemper each recorded four falls. Tanner Urdahl at 120 and Keslar Swenson at 150 each were 3-1 and Brody Randall, who went 2-2 at 138, recorded his 150th career win.Schell, Matthews, Richter, Lohr and Pitkin each also won twice in the triangular and are 6-0 to start the season.Olivia Anderson (120), Brooke Grajczyk (145), Allison Konrad (190) and Eden Hach (235) each won titles for Watertown in its girls invitational. Watertown finished fourth in the tourney with 142.5 points. Anderson, Konrad and Hach also won twice, along with Nevaeh Schanbeck at 170, in the triangular.Aberdeen Central’s good startAberdeen Central’s boys also went 4-0 in the Marv Sherrill Duals, posting wins over Yankton 51-24, Tea Area 48-20, Milbank 66-12 and Canby 51-26.Jackson Dargatz (126), Ridley Waldo (157) and Porter Lozenski (165) each went 4-0 and Bailey Gillen (113) and Owen Ward (190-215) each 3-0 for the Golden Eagles.Jasmine Maas won the 115-pound division to lead Aberdeen Central’s girls to a third-place finish (160.5) in the Watertown Girls Invitational.Other Watertown tourney highlightsCanby finished 1-2 in the Marv Sherrill Duals, beating Tea Area 39-35. Ty Rangaard (138-144) and Wesley Verhelst (215) each went 3-0 on the day for Canby.Lawson Novy posted three wins at 285 pounds for Milbank in the Marv Sherrill Duals. The Bulldogs also fell to Yankton 64-18 and went 0-3. Hunter Reede won by fall at 215 pounds in Milbank’s season-opening dual 76-6 loss to Madison on Dec. 4.Other area champions in the Watertown Girls Invite included Liza Krueger of Groton Area at 110 pounds, Sophie Knittel of Ipswich at 135, Summer Guthmiller of Sioux Valley at 155 and Jaidynn Giedd of Kingsbury County at 170.Other opening week boys highlightsKingsbury County scored 155.5 and edged Clark-Willow Lake (146) for the team title in the Clark-Willow Lake Wrestling Booster Club Invite on Dec. 6. Willy Miller (106), Greyson Nielson (157) and Blake Jennings (165) each won titles for KC and Maverick Clausen (113), Cade Gaikowski (120), Kaden Wookey (132) and Cooper Pommer (144) for CWL. Other area champs were Cash Edgar of Faulkton Area (126), Headen Jorgenson (150) and Gage Baumgarn (190) of Webster Area, Ben Suther of Britton-Hecla (175) and Gavin Englund of Groton Area (285).Sisseton finished third in the Dan Unruh Invite on Dec. 6 at Wahpeton, ND by scoring 160.5 points. Kayden Tchida (114) and Holden Hawkins (172) each won titles for Sisseton.Deuel-Deubrook Area took third in the Flandreau Booster Club Invite on Dec. 6 with 124.5 points. Bently Fokken of DDA (113) and Kyson Sundberg of Sioux Valley (106) each won titles.Chance Miller of Ipswich-Bowdle (120) and Wyatt Zeigler of Mobridge-Pollock (285) captured titles in the Stanley County Invite of Dec. 6.Parker Roberts of Hamlin-Castlewood took second (106B) in The Top of the Rock tourney at Dell Rapids and Lucas Nelson of Sunshine Bible Academy second at 125 pounds kim the Kimball-White Lake/Platte-Geddes Invite on Dec. 6.Sioux Valley fell to Canton 66-12 and Parker 48-23 in season-opening duals on Dec. 2. Owen Vandeweerd collected his 150th career win at 285 pounds.Other opening week girls highlightsSisseton finished second in the Dan Unruh Invite on Dec. 6 in Wahpeton by scoring 87.5 points and crowning champions Vi Anderson at 142 and Maryann Rice at 170.Sioux Valley won The Top of the Rock tourney on Dec. 6 at Dell Rapids with champions Mira Wagner (100), Hope VanHoepen (130), Skye Guthmiller (140-145) and Alaina Christensen (170). Groton Area’s Liza Krueger won at 110-115.Dora Bonen of Mobridge-Pollock took the 135-pound title in the Stanley County Invite on Dec. 6.Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.comThis article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Opening week highlights for area high school wrestlers