HURON – One streak came to an end, but another one continued Thursday at the Huron Invitational golf tournament.
Aberdeen Central did not win a tourney for the first time this spring, but Olivia Braun continued her string of top finishes. The senior earned medalist honors with a 4-under par 69 and has now won six of seven tournaments this season and was runner-up in the other.
The short-handed Golden Eagles finished second in team points with 315, just three strokes behind Mitchell depsite not having the services of Kyley Wirebaugh.
“That kind of tells the story right there. I’m not going to dwell on that, but anybody that follows us knows that we were missing Kyley today,” said Central coach Kim Zimmerman. “We had a tall mountain to climb and they did a good job. We competed until the very end. Even without her today, we really hung in there and we battled until the very end. Give the girls a lot of credit. They just stayed within their game and did what they needed to do to be competitive today.”
Braun continues to shoot sub par scores on nearly every course she plays. Her season average so far is right around a 69.
“I don’t think there’s been a lot of players that have averaged under par like she is this year. … It is pretty amazing as to what she is accomplishing right now,” Zimmerman said.
Central’s Chloe Vikander and Emma Dohrer tied for seventh with rounds of 78.
Vikander is quietly piecing together a solid spring for the Golden Eagles.
“She’s really kind of stepped her game up so far this year in a few tournaments, and I think it’s given her confidence which is hard to do in golf once in a while,” Zimmerman said. “It‘s been a positive for her to be in the top 10 and top 15 in some of these meets, and walking away and feeling pretty darn good about your game.”
Zimmerman said Vikander’s contributions don’t get talked about a lot, but have been crucial to the team’s ability to post low scores this season.
“That’s a big reason why we’ve been scoring the way we have. … It takes four, and she’s one of those four that has really contributed in a big way that have led to some of the scores that we’ve posted,” Zimmerman said. “That doesn’t get overlooked by me.”
Central will conclude a busy stretch of golf today with another tourney at Yankton. It will be the team’s third event in the past five days.
The Golden Eagles will be without both Dorher and Wirebaugh today.
“It’s a harder golf course,” Zimmerman said, “but I kind of look at it like, OK it’s an opportunity for the younger girls to play, too.”
To see Thursday’s complete tournament results, click on the following link:
