HARRISBURG – Aberdeen Central opened it’s golf season in style Monday, finishing second in team points led by a runner-up finish from Olivia Braun at the Harrisburg Invitational.

Harrisburg won its own meet, 11 strokes better than the Golden Eagles. Medalist was defending State AA individual champion Reese Jansa of Harrisburg who carded a 72.

Braun, just an eighth-grader, was three strokes back at 75.

“Olivia played extremely well,” said Central coach Kim Zimmerman. “She played in the same group with Reese. I think she opened some eyes in that group, too, with how she played.”

While Braun was the top returning finisher for the Eagles from last year’s state meet, Zimmerman said it’s tough to know exactly what to expect from his players in the initial meet of the season.

“You hope that they go out and play well,” Zimmerman said. “That was just an unbelievable performance from her.”

Fellow eighth-grader Emma Dohrer finished 10th with an 83 after a blistering front nine on the day.

“Emma’s 35 on the front, that’s pretty impressive as well,” Zimmerman said.

Leah Gough tied for 22nd and Morgan Jones tied for 26th.

The Eagles also got a look at newcomers to the varsity as Kyley Wirebaugh and Chloe Vikander saw their first varsity action.

“We need them to step up and see what they can do in a varsity event and they did that today,” Zimmerman said. “I’m really pleased with how they came away with today.”

Zimmerman would like to build on the momentum from Monday’s opening meet, however, the weather forecast does not look conducive to having outdoor practices any time soon.

“It would be nice to get out and practice and do some things,” Zimmerman said. “I just saw so many things that I’d like to do outside, but I think that’s kind of going to be on the back burner for a while by the sounds of things.”

Central’s next action will be Tuesday in Huron at a triangular along with Watertown.

While it may be a while before the girls can get back on the course, at least the squad got in a solid round at Harrisburg in a meet that was moved up from Thursday because of the projected weather.

“I think I can speak for most teams that we were really fortunate to get this one in today,” Zimmerman said, “and we feel good about seeing at least where the girls are at and what we really need to work on, and let them kind of have an idea of where they’re at, too. All in all it was beneficial in more ways than one.”

Team Points: Harrisburg 331, Aberdeen Central 342, Mitchell 346, Pierre 349, Sioux Falls Lincoln 351, Brookings 358, Yankton 362, Watertown 375, Sioux Falls Roosevelt 402, Sioux Falls Jefferson 420, Sioux Falls Washington 425.

Top 15 Individual Finishers

1, Reese Jansa, Harrisburg, 72; 2, Olivia Braun, Aberdeen Central, 75; 3, Riley Zebroski, Watertown, 77; 4, Delilah Fuls, Brookings, 80; 5, (tie) Allison Meyerink, Mitchell, 81, Maddie Childs, Mitchell, 81, Sara Sudenga, Sioux Falls Roosevelt, 81, and Claire Yunag, Sioux Falls Lincoln, 81; 9, Brinly Sanderson, Harrisburg, 82; 10, Emma Dohrer, Aberdeen Central, 83;

11, Haley Nadeau, Pierre, 84; 12, Mattie Weidenbach, Harrisburg, 85; 13, Madilyn Brakke, Pierre, 87; 14, (tie) Morgan Sandness, Sioux Falls Lincoln, 88 and Tatum Hohenthaner, Yankton, 88.

Other Aberdeen Central golfers: 22, (tie) Leah Gough, 91; 26, (tie) Morgan Jones, 93; 30, (tie) Kyley Wirebaugh, 94; 49, Chloe Vikander, 105.