YANKTON, SD (KELO) — The Watertown girls golf team brought home the class ‘AA’ state crown on Tuesday snagging Mitchell’s chance at back-to-back state titles.

1979 was the last time Watertown claimed a state title, 45 years later, the Arrows finished with a score of 649 to win the title. Freshman Gabi Olson helped close out the championship with a par on the 18th hole.

Thanks for signing up!

Watch for us in your inbox.

Subscribe Now

KELOLAND Sports Update

“It’s pretty cool I’ve got still three years left, but we have a lot of seniors leaving. So it was kind of nice to experience the win with them, and win with them one last time. I shared a hotel room with two of them so we got pretty hype in the hotel room and we were excited for tomorrow. We said we were going to have a comeback and we did,” Watertown freshman Gabi Olson said.

“She’s got great poise, she’s got a great mind, so she’s able to go ahead and keep herself in the moment, not get ahead of herself, slow herself down. So walking with 18, I knew that she’s going to be able to close this out for us because she’s just great talent,” Watertown head coach Corey Neale said.

Watertown, Mitchell and, Aberdeen Central have been in a race for first place all season, with Watertown falling third for majority of the year. But given how close they were to taking first, their hope never wavered.

“It wasn’t a large gap all year. It was just six, seven shots which can throughout a tournament, two day tournament, that can flip pretty easily. And so the fact that they have the resiliency to be able to stay within themselves, trust themselves and have confidence, I really enjoy seeing that from them because you don’t get that a lot,” coach Neale said.

Olson tied for fifth in the tournament and she’s hoping this is just the start for Watertown golf.

“I hope to have another state championship to me in the next couple years, that’d be really nice. But it was nice to have the first one for my freshman year,” Olson said.

Olson is one of only four players coming back as Watertown graduates four seniors from this year’s roster.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KELOLAND.com.