WATERTOWN – Aberdeen Central had one of its best days of the spring during the Watertown Invitational at Cattail Crossing on Tuesday. The Golden Eagles finished with a team score of 317, just one stroke behind Mitchell in team points.

“Normally a person may be somewhat disappointed taking second place, but I took a couple of things away from it,” said Central coach Kim Zimmerman. “I’m encouraged by it. Number one, we only got beat by one stroke. Number two, we shot a good team score. You factor in those two things, I’m pretty encouraged by how we played today.”

Mitchell’s Allison Meyerink shot a blistering 70 to earn medalist honors. Central’s Olivia Braun tied for second with a 74 to lead a strong Golden Eagles delegation that featured five players in the top nine and six players with an 86 or lower.

“Ninety percent of the time, 95 percent of the time, you take the score today and you run with it,” Zimmerman said. “You’d say I’ll take that score without even playing. We had actually five girls place in the top 15 to get medals.”

Central’s Emma Dohrer was fourth with a 78, Leah Gough tied for seventh with an 82, Morgan Jones and Kyley Wirebaugh tied for ninth with 83s, and Chloe Vikander finished just outside the top 15 with an 86.

“Everybody is 86 or lower. What can you say?” Zimmerman said. “We had a really good day and played well. We want to continue with that.”

The Golden Eagles will head back to Watertown Tuesday for the Eastern South Dakota Conference meet, but before then they will compete in a meet at Brookings on Thursday.

“Just another tune-up for next week,” Zimmerman said, “kind of work on a few things, continue to build and work and try to peak at the right time.”

Team Points: Mitchell 316, Aberdeen Central 317, Watertown 327, Pierre 350, Brookings 357, Watertown II 357, Brandon Valley 375.

Top 15 Individuals

1, Allison Meyerink, Mitchell, 70; 2, (tie) Olivia Braun, Aberdeen Central, 74, and Riley Zebroski, Watertown, 74; 4, Emma Dohrer, Aberdeen Central, 78; 5, Delilah Fuhs, 79; 6, Lara Widstrom, Mitchell, 81; 7, (tie) Maddie Childs, Mitchell, 82, and Leah Gough, Aberdeen Central, 82; 9, (tie) Morgan Jones, Aberdeen Central, 83, Kyley Wirebaugh, Aberdeen Central, 83, Quinn Dannenbring, Mitchell, 83, Avery Palmquist, Watertown, 83;

13, Madilyne Brakke, Pierre, 84; 14, Gabi Olson, Watertown, 85, and Shelby Person, Watertown, 85.

Other Central golfers: 16, (tie) Chloe Vikander, 86.