Aberdeen Roncalli broke a 16-year-long Region 1A girls golf title drought with a group of freshmen.

The Cavaliers claimed their first region crown since 2007, edging runner-up Madison by a single stroke at Lee Park Golf Course Thursday.

It was, said Roncalli coach Jon Murdy, the team’s best day of the season.

“Their mindset was perfect all day,” Murdy said. “They were mentally in it for 18 holes.”

Roncalli put four scorers in the top ten during Thursday’s round. All four shot or tied their season-low score.

Claire Crawford led the way for the Cavaliers, carding an 81 to finish fifth. Morgan Helms followed in sixth with an 83. Grace Seyer’s 84 tied her for seventh, and Ava Danielson tied for 10th with an 86.

“All of them played really well today,” Murdy said. “It was fun to watch out there and to coach. The girls are great. They want to keep learning and keep getting better, and they want to compete.”

That fire translated into a team score of 334, one shot ahead of Madison’s 335. 

But while the title tastes pretty sweet, the Cavaliers know it could easily have swung the other way.

“Between us, Dell Rapids, Groton and Madison, we’ve beat them and they’ve beat us,” Murdy said. “Out of the six teams that were here, I thought any of the top four had a chance to win. We were lucky enough to have it today.”

Individually, it was Groton’s Carly Guthmiller claiming medalist honors with her round of 73, which bested Delilah Maxwell of Madison by three strokes and her target score by more than 15.

Guthmiller said her goal coming into the day was to finish under 90.

“Everything was working, thankfully,” she said. “My drives were going straight, my irons were going the way I wanted them to and my putts were saving me.”

And the only effect the breeze had was to keep the bugs away.

Thursday marked the Groton junior’s second tournament win of the season and was a career-best round.

“To me it’s just a big relief,” Guthmiller said. “I played good today, that means I’m going to state. My goal was to stay under 90, and I did.”

By virtue of their top finish, the Cavaliers qualified as a team for the Class A state tournament, which will be held June 5-6 at Meadowbrook Golf Course in Rapid City.

“I tell the girls, your attitude will determine your score,” Murdy said. “If you have a bad attitude, you’ll have a bad score. If you have a good attitude, you’ll have a good score. We’ll keep that mindset going into the state tournament.”

Team Points: 1, Aberdeen Roncalli, 334; 2, Madison, 335; 3, Groton, 352; 4, Dell Rapids, 357; 5, Sioux Valley, 360; 6, Milbank, 419.

Individual Top 20: 1, Carly Guthmiller, Groton, 73; 2, Delilah Maxwell, Madison, 76; T3, Abby Greenhoff, Dell Rapids, 78; T3, Caitlyn Cradduck, Sioux Valley, 78; 5, Claire Crawford, Aberdeen Roncalli, 81; 6, Morgan Helms, Aberdeen Roncalli, 83; T7, Madison Bushkofsky, Flandreau, 84; T7, Grace Seyer, Aberdeen Roncalli, 84; 9, Julia Dossett, Madison, 85; T10, Ava Danielson, Aberdeen Roncalli, 86; T10, Delaney Gerry, Madison, 86;

12, Carlee Johnson, Groton, 87; T13, Emma Tauberg, Dell Rapids, 88; T13, Chloe Schneider, Madison, 88; T15, Laryn Stevens, Sioux Valley, 90; T15, Sienna Maxwell, Madison, 90; T15, Haylee Bohnet, Sioux Valley, 90; 18, Natalie Berg, Dell Rapids, 92; 19, Elliot Hortness, Sisseton, 94; 20, Ashlynn Lafromboise, Tiospa Zina, 95.