Things could not have work out much better for the Aberdeen Roncalli girls’ golf team on Thursday.
Playing on their home course at Lee Park, the Cavaliers placed seven golfers among the top 11 finishers and rolled to the team title led by Claire Crawford who won the individual championship.
While the competition may not have been as challenging as what Roncalli has seen at bigger tournaments recently, the Cavaliers still shot a team total of 315 and won the tourney by 56 strokes.
“Golf is still golf and they played well,” said Roncalli coach Jon Murdy. “It’s good to see kind of the hard work that they’ve been trying to do pay off.”
Murdy said the conditions may have also played a bit of role.
“Nicest weather round, too. … You don’t have to wear four layers to swing a golf club,” Murdy said. “It makes things a little bit easier for them.”
Crawford earned medalist honors with a 72, two strokes better than Sisseton’s Kenzley Heath.
Crawford’s total did not come without a few hiccups, but she finished strong to secure the victory.
“I told Jon I put myself in some precarious situations out there. I think I hit four fairways all day today and one of them was with an iron off the tee,” Crawford said. “So that was a little frustrating, but I was glad that I could make something out of what I had and turn it into a good day out on the golf course.”
Crawford said she tries not to keep a running total of her score while competing, but figured things were fairly close between her and Heath.
“I try not to keep track of my score during the round,” Crawford said. “I played really good the front nine, and then on the back nine I tried to have the mentality that I was just even, just don’t worry about the one birdie I had on the front. I knew Kenzley was close to me.”
In fact, Heath pulled to within one stroke near the finish before Crawford sank a birdie putt on 18, the last putt she will ever take in high school competition on the course.
“Definitely a good way to end the round,” Crawford said. “I wish a few other things would have went differently, but I was glad I was able to put that round together not playing my best.”
Crawford, who is headed to Dakota Wesleyan next season, talked about her playing days at Lee Park.
“It’s been great. Ever since Jon started coaching us, we’ve been able to play on this course,” Crawford said. “It’s pretty straight forward, but still a couple holes that you got to really think about. Apparently it just suits my eye.”
Heath said she tried to keep track of where she was in relation to Crawford, but mainly focused on her own game.
“I definitely try to play smart,” Heath said, “but I don’t like to dial it back so much that I’m not playing aggressive, because even though playing smart leads to great holes, I still try to just play my game.”
The freshman, who finished eighth in the State A tournament a year ago, has put in hours to hone her game and would like to place higher at state this season.”
“I worked really hard over the off season, and right now I’m just trying to prove all that I’ve done and worked for,” Heath said. “I’ve definitely improved distance, so I’m just trying to maybe do better than last year and keep a good mindset, because that’s a very important thing.”
Heath said at last year’s state tourney she got pretty nervous before she stepped up to hit her first tee shot. She would also like to change that this time around.
“I think this year another goal for me would be to just take a deep breath before I tee off and just try to block everyone out,” Heath said, “because it can be scary with everyone watching.”
Roncalli freshman MacKenzie Wegehaupt finished third with a 78. She said that is a major improvement for her after a rough start to the season.
“I think my game has kind of gotten worse,” Wegehaupt said. “I’m just trying to get back into it, so today is definitely a good confidence booster.”
Wegehaupt said being familiar with the course helped her during her round.
“My irons were going better, just everything in general was going better,” she said, “and I think I had more confidence because I’ve played this course a thousand times.”
Wegehaupt was a model of consistency on the way to her top-three finish.
“Seven of my eight last holes I parred so that was good,” she said, “so I definitely improved on the back nine.”
Wegehaupt does not keep track of her score throughout her round, so naturally she was pleased when she found out her total for the day.
“I never look at the scoring during that, so I had no idea what my score was the whole day,” Wegehaupt said. “So at the end, it was just a good surprise to see how well I shot.”
The tournament was not only a confidence booster for Wegehaupt, she noted it was big for the entire team.
Grace Seyer was fifth with an 82, Ava Danielson was seventh with an 83, Morgan Helms was eighth with an 85, Molly Jorgensen was 10th with an 95, and Hattie Anderson was 11th with a 97.
“Overall, the whole team played well. Everybody had one of their best days,” Wegehaupt said. “So this will be a really good confidence booster for everybody going into the next tournament.”
That next tournament is the Groton Invitational on Monday.
Murdy said it was just nice to have the players perform well and see their work pay dividends.
“The amount of times I’m hearing, ‘I’m hitting it well, I’m just not it scoring well.’ Now, they’re hitting it well and they’re starting to score well,” Murdy said. “It’s just a confidence booster for them.”
To see complete tournament results, click on the following link:
