The Aberdeen Central wrestling team will have a Northern State influence this season as the head coach and two assistants have ties to NSU.
After one year away from the sport of wrestling, Rocky Burkett returns to the mat as the Aberdeen Central head wrestling coach. Burkett spent seven seasons as an assistant at Northern State. Burkett will bring the lessons he learned at the collegiate level to the high school program.
"When you first get into coaching, you don't understand all the managing part of sports. The setting up and organizational stuff. Working with (NSU coach Pat) Timm, I got to do a lot of recruiting. It was good experience to learn how to do the organizational stuff and recruiting," said Burkett.
Merle Aske returns as an assistant, along with former Northern wrestlers Donnie Bowden (Gettysburg) and Corbin Surat (Aberdeen Central).
"Merle has been around a long time and is real helpful. He lets me know what's going on and what we need to do. I picked Donnie because he is a solid kid and works hard. Corbin is a volunteer coach and knows what I expect. They both relate to the kids really well," said Burkett.
Many of the Golden Eagle wrestlers participated in an acceleration program over the summer to improve speed, quickness, agility, strength and endurance. Other summer activities included weight lifting and a camp that featured Webster six-time state champion and current University of Minnesota wrestler Logan Storley.
"We had 50 kids show up for the camp. Logan's a local kid and he kept working hard. He was an All-American as a true freshman. It's good for the young kids to see someone put in the time and he kept his goals high," said Burkett.
The Golden Eagles return two place-winners from the State A Tournament last season: senior Griffin Hieb and junior Mitchell Johnson. Hieb finished fifth at 138 pounds with a 33-11 record. Johnson was eighth at 145 pounds and his record was 22-15. Central finished in a tie for 16th at the state meet, which was won by Pierre. Pierre only graduated one wrestler from last year's state champion team.
"The kids are working really hard so far. They are doing a good job right now," said Burkett. "We have 30 kids on the roster. We'll have more guys in the middle weights and not as many in the upper weights. We'll move people around and get the weights filled. We'll have a pretty experienced lineup."
Central wrestling fans won't get to cheer on the team at home until the new year. The Golden Eagles host Brookings on Jan. 10 in the first home contest of the season. Aberdeen Central will open the season at the Watertown Dual Tournament on Saturday. Next on the schedule is a three-day stay in Rapid City. Aberdeen will participate in a triangular against Rapid City Central and Sturgis on Dec. 6, followed by the Rapid City Invitational on Dec. 7-8.
"Rapid City Central and Sturgis are always pretty tough. It will be a good chance for the kids to see where we're at with the tough competition in the two days at the Rapid City tournament. It will be a good measuring stick," said Burkett.
The annual Lee Wolf Invitational will be held at Golden Eagles Arena on Jan. 26. Central will host the Region 3A tournament on Feb. 16 to qualify wrestlers for the state meet at Watertown on Feb. 22-23.
"I think we're going to be pretty good," Burkett said. "We have to score bonus points in tournaments and we'll line up good at dual meets. We haven't had a lot of champions or guys in the finals. One of my big goals is to get some kids to the finals and score big points for us. I'm pretty excited about the season and about the kids working hard. If they keep doing what they're doing now, we should see good things by the end of the year."
2012-13 Schedule: December - 1, at Watertown Dual Tournament; 6, at West River Triangular (Rapid City Central, Sturgis); 7-8, at Rapid City Invitational; 13, at Mitchell; 21, at Pierre; January - 4-5, Rotary Invitational at Bismarck, N.D.; 10, Brookings; 12, Brandon Valley; 17, at Watertown; 19, West Central Invitational at Hartford; 26, Lee Wolf Invitational; February - 1, Yankton; 2, Huron at Aberdeen Civic Arena; 9, Eastern South Dakota Conference at Mitchell; 16, Region 3A Tournament at Aberdeen; 22-23, State A Tournament at Watertown.