VASSALBORO — St. Dominic Academy golf coach Chris Whitney speaks often about consistency, and the Saints showed that Saturday by finishing as Class C runner-up for the fourth time in five years.
Maranacook took the title with a score of 334, nine shots ahead of St. Dom’s on the Arrowhead Course at Natanis Golf Club. Dexter (348), Fort Kent (359) and Mattanawcook (372) rounded out the top five.
“Consistency for me is big in life … we go four or five years where we are second, consistency is there,” Whitney said. “Just like last year, the kids are already talking about where they missed here, where they missed there. We will regroup and try to do the same thing next year.”
Garrett Kendall led the Saints with a round of 77 to finish in a tie for fifth in the boys individual tournament.
“My goal was to break 75, keep everybody together and win, but that didn’t happen,” Kendall said.
The other Saints scores that counted toward the team score included Eric Jones’ 87, Ethan Pelletier’s 89 and Miles Frenette’s 90.
Putting hindered the Saints.
“Nobody was coming off the course talking about penalty strokes,” Whitney said. “Everyone kept the ball in play, but we had multiple people with three putts and that kind of thing. I think the greens kind of got us.”
Maranacook coach Ryan Meserve had quiet confidence his team could pull off the team title.
“I didn’t let them know that fully, but I knew where we were at,” Meserve said. “I knew that if we played well — we haven’t played well all together at the same time throughout the season. We were winning matches and going undefeated, but it was nice to (win states).”
Wyatt Folsom paced the Black Bears with a 2-over 74, good for second place in the individual competition. The other three players contributing to the team score were Ben Jewett (85), Brandon Chilton (86) and Ethan Chilton (89).
Folsom led the individual tournament for most of the day but shot 4-over in the final three holes.
“I was there for 17 and 18, and I knew where he was at and he knew where he was at,” Meserve said. “Sometimes you get a couple of good bounces and hit the distance you want, and other times you don’t. He played a great round; without his 74 we aren’t winning the team event.”
MCI DUO TAKE INDIVIDUAL TITLES
Owen Moore of Maine Central Institute took home the Class C individual boys title after trailing Folsom by two strokes most of the day before carding a 1-over 73.
“I didn’t want to come in thinking of shooting a certain score,” Moore said. “I wanted to come in and have fun … and enjoy the moment. In a couple of years, I won’t be able to do this anymore.”
Moore said he knew he was two shots behind Folsom — who was in a different group — after nine holes.
Moore had a big three-hole stretch on the front nine.
“Four, five and six, I went eagle, birdie, birdie, which started to get me in a flow and rhythm,” Moore said.
Trevor Dolbier of Rangeley and Carson Prout of Washington Academy shot 76s to finish in a tie for third.
Alex Grimaldi of Spruce Mountain played with Kendall and also shot a 77 to finish in a tie for fifth.
“I shot a 78 at the (MVC) qualifier and I wanted to improve on that,” Grimaldi said. “I really wanted to shoot low on seven, but unfortunately I triple-bogeyed that, which didn’t help my score. Other than that, I played exactly how I wanted to play.”
Jillian Plamondon of MCI took home the girls crown, shooting a 90, three shots better than Maddy Prokopius of North Yarmouth Academy.
Plamondon played well on the toughest stretch of Arrowhead.
“The back nine, I had a lot of pars,” Plamondon said. “I was very happy.”
Plamondon said she usually shoots in the high 90s but her driving and approach shots Saturday helped her lower her score.
Reese Beaudoin of Monmouth finished third, shooting 100.
“She has been a solid player, she’s a junior and she’s going to come back next year and hopefully give it a good run next year,” Monmouth coach Don Flanagan said.
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