WATERTOWN – Aberdeen Central had a solid day at the Eastern South Dakota Conference Golf Tournament on Tuesday, finishing runner-up as a team, five strokes behind Mitchell.

The Golden Eagles finished with a team total of 321.

Mitchell, led by medalist Allison Meyerink, finished with 316.

“Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other team or the other individual,” said Central coach Kim Zimmerman.

Central was led by Olivia Braun who finished second with a 74. Emma Dohrer tied for fifth, while Kyley Wirebaugh tied for eighth. Each girl earned All-ESD honors.

Zimmerman knew his squad would have to post a low score, because the Kernels have been playing solid as well.

“I kind of thought going into it you were probably going to have shoot in the 3-teens somewhere,” Zimmerman said, “just simply because a little over a week ago we played down there, they shot 316 to win it and we shot 317.”

Zimmerman was pleased with how the girls performed as Central’s other three golfers, Leah Gough, Morgan Jones and Chloe Vikander each shot an 86 and just missed making the podium.

“That’s the thing too, you kind of have to take some positives away. Those girls that were all at 86 were one stroke away from being all-conference,” Zimmerman said. “That would have been a tremendous accomplishment to have all six girls on the team make all-conference. We were virtually one stroke away from having six blue shirts on the podium today. That’s pretty impressive.”

While the Golden Eagles would have liked to defend their ESD title from last season, they now will turn their attention to the upcoming Class AA State Tournament June 5-6 in Pierre.

“The next thing we focus on is obviously the state tournament in Pierre. We’ll put this one behind us,” Zimmerman said. “I can’t fault the girls for their effort. We tried hard, we practiced hard, we kind of did everything I think we needed to do. Again, Mitchell was a little bit better today, not by a lot, but they were just a little bit better.”

Central’s final tune-up for the state tournament will come on Tuesday in Pierre on the state tournament course. Other squads competing will include powers Mitchell and Rapid City Stevens.

“That’s going to be a nice little practice round for us,” Zimmerman said, “and not only that, but playing against two top teams as well.”

Team Points: Mitchell 316, Aberdeen Central 321, Watertown 333, Pierre 338, Yankton 354, Brookings 357, Harrisburg 357, Brandon Valley 374. Incomplete: Huron.

Top 15 Individual Results

1, Allison Meyerink, Mitchell, 68; 2, Olivia Braun, Aberdeen Central, 74; 3, Hadley Hart, Pierre, 77; 4, Riley Zebroski, Watertown, 78; 5, (tie) Emma Dohrer, Aberdeen Central, 79, and Delilah Fuhs, Brookings, 79; 7, Maddie Childs, Mitchell, 80; 8, (tie) Kyley Wirebaugh, Aberdeen Central, 82, Ava Eliason, Mitchell, 82, and Bryn Huber, Huron, 82;

11, Natalie Pearson, Watertown, 83; 12, (tie) Ellia Homstead, Yankton, 84, Olivia Rink, Huron, 84, and Sabrina Krajewski, Yankton, 84; 15, (tie) Aspen Reynolds, Watertown, 85, Brinly Sanderson, Harrisburg, 85, and Hattie Baldwin, Pierre, 85.

Other Aberdeen Central golfers: 18, (tie) Leah Gough, 86, Morgan Jones, 86, Chloe Vikander 86.