It turned out to be another dominating performance by the Aberdeen Central golf team, only with a little twist this time.
The Golden Eagles shot a 295 team score to run away with the team crown at Moccasin Creek Country Club on Thursday. Central also had the medalist once again, but this time it was Kyley Wirebaugh after Olivia Braun had won the team’s first four tournaments.
“Being a medalist is fun, but I think all of us go out there and play for the team,” Wirebaugh said. “Some people might not do that in golf. Yes, you’re against each other, but it’s really a team for us. I played good today, but Olivia still played good, and our team did good.”
Wirebaugh shot a 3-under-par 69 to edge Braun by one stroke. Chloe Vikander finished fifth and Emma Dohrer was sixth, each with a 78.
“That’s the competitive nature of that group,” said Central coach Kim Zimmerman. “They just push each other. … It’s just a great situation for a coach to be in with what I’m dealing with right now.”
The fact that the Golden Eagles were able to record one of their best scores in an already stellar season, despite the weather conditions, made an impression on Zimmerman.
“It’s hard to wrap your head around when it’s like 40 degrees and they’re warming up out there. We dealt with a little bit of everything today as far as the weather. A little rain, a lot of wind at times, cold, clouds, sun, a little bit of everything,” Zimmerman said. “As a golfer myself, I wouldn’t have wanted to go out and play today, so I can’t imagine what they endured as far as the weather and to come in with the score that they did.”
Wirebaugh said her short game was the key to her round.
“I think it’s the putting. It’s always short game for golf,” the junior said. “You can hit the ball as far as you want, but it’s really the short game, and today I putted very well, so that was a big part of my game.”
Braun still had a solid round, just a slight bit off her lofty accomplishments to start her senior season.
“It was one of those days where nothing was really great and nothing was bad,” Braun said. “I just had to figure out a way to kind of just put the ball in the hole with the least amount of strokes and stick to that, and I think that’s what brought me out.”
While all of the players had to play in the wide range of elements, Braun said it does impact the thought process out on the course.
“When it’s colder you have to take extra club, because the ball doesn’t fly as far,” she said. “You have to think about all those things when you have worse conditions, whereas if you have 70 degrees and no wind you can kind of go out there and just play golf and not think about it.”
The defending State AA champs have bolted out of the blocks on a mission this spring, and everybody is enjoying their time on the course.
“I think everybody is just out having fun, and I think that’s the thing you want to focus on,” Braun said. “I think we’re all doing that and we’re all working hard, and I think it’s paying off and showing.”
To be sure, there is still plenty of work left to be done with the Eastern South Dakota Conference tournament and state tourney still coming up on the horizon.
“We just really want to make sure we stay in the moment and ‘Zim’ is really good at keeping us grounded,” Wirebaugh said. “You can play as good as you want in season, but what matters is ESD and state.”
Aberdeen Roncalli had a solid day as well, finishing third in team points behind Central and Mitchell. The Cavaliers don’t often get a chance to compete against Class AA competition.
“It’s always fun to be at the AA level. The girls want that opportunity,” said Roncalli coach Jon Murdy. “They want to prove themselves that they can do it. They feel like they came up a little bit short today, but they always want to keep improving.”
Of course, the weather was certainly a challenge as Murdy pointed out.
“The statement we had at the beginning was, well, at least it’s not windy. And then the wind came up,” Murdy said. “Well, at least it’s not raining. And then it started raining. We just kind of told ourselves to stop saying stuff. Like, hey, maybe it could be sunny, and it never did.”
Roncalli was led by senior Claire Crawford who finished eighth with an 80. She got a chance to golf with two of the state’s premier golfers in Braun and Mitchell’s Maddie Childs in her threesome.
“It’s really fun honestly, because there’s no pressure on me. It’s all on them kind of. When you play with better people you play to a better level, I feel like, so it’s fun to play with them,” Crawford said. “I’ve been good friends with Olivia. Went to school with her for a while. It’s fun to play with her. It’s like playing with an old friend. It’s fun to do that.”
Crawford tried to stick to her normal routine and block out the ever-changing weather conditions, but that proved to be a challenging task.
“You gotta just stay in the moment and not worry about the next shot. Every time it started raining we seemed to be on a tee box,” Crawford said. “And it was like, OK do I hurry up and hit before it gets worse, or do I wait, because it’s probably going to stop in a second. But I tried to keep my same routine, not speed anything up, slow anything down and try and hit like there’s no weather happening, but there was.”
The tournament provided an opportunity to see where the Cavaliers are at and highlight areas of improvement as they head into the back half of the season.
“We’re getting more and more ideas on what we need to work on,” Murdy said. “From there it makes my job a little bit easier, instead of trying to figure out stuff, it’s oh, this is what needs to happen, this is what we need to work on.”
To see complete tournament results, click on the following link:
