By Rich Winter 

605 Sports

With the final few days of Class B duals before teams are selected to the Class B state tournament field, Clark/Willow Lake coaches Greg and Jimmy Marx have one eye on their team and one eye on the Class B standings.

With just three duals remaining on their schedule, Clark/Willow Lake is 12-0 on its dual season and seeded as the No. 5 seeded team in the Class B ranked as of Wednesday, Dec. 31. 

“We’ve never made it to the state dual tournament and that is something our guys have been working for since Day 1 of the 2023-24 wrestling season,” Greg Marx said. “One of the things that has helped us is we finally have enough wrestlers for a full team and everyone has bought into the system. 

The Marx brothers know plenty about system and state championships. Both coaches did their prep wrestling at Webster Area High School under the direction of Hall of Fame coach John Schiley. Jimmy Marx was a three-time state champion for the Bearcats. 

“That legacy, that feeling is something we are trying to bring here to Clark/Willow Lake,” Greg Marx said. 

While the top of the current dual seedings is littered with traditional powers Winner Area, Canton, Philip/Kadoka Area/Wall Badlands Brawlers and Bon Homme/Avon, Greg Marx said it is hard to get duals with those upper-tier teams. 

The Marx brothers are all in on the Clark/Willow Lake wrestling program, also coaching the youth wrestlers. 

“If it is a passion, we make it happen,” Greg Marx said. 

Clark/WIllow Lake’s numbers are up this year with 22 males out for the sport and one female. 

The Marx brothers think they have done enough to qualify for the state dual tournament. Looming on the horizon are three more duals with Webster Area, Deuel/Deubrook Area and Kingsbury County on Tuesday, Feb. 6. 

“We have three duals left at that quad so our kids have gone back to work and are putting their noses to the grindstone,” Marx said. 

The unofficial girls state dual tournament is in Canton on Friday, Feb. 3

In this ever expanding world of girls wrestling, and with no state dual tournaments for girls, an unofficial state dual tournament will take place in Canton on Friday. Canton, Pierre, Watertown, Lakota Tech, Viborg-Hurley/Irene-Wakonda and Harrisburg will be there. 

Tournaments galore this weekend: 1. Big Dakota Conference; 2. Redfield; 3. LLC/Big East Tournament; 4. Yankton; 5. Black Hills Conference.