The Class C state golf championship may once again come down to Maranacook and St. Dominic Academy
“That’s what we’re hoping, and that’s what the scores are kind of dictating,” St. Dom’s coach Chris Whitney said. “I don’t know what any teams from, you know, north of the Augusta area have done in their qualifiers up in the Greater Bangor, the (Penobscot Valley Conference) … but, yeah, (Maranacook) returned most of their team, and they’re really strong. And then our scores from our two qualifiers on the same course were within a couple of strokes.
“So it does look like one of those things where we’re just going tee it up and let it fly and hope for the best.”
The Black Bears defeated the Saints by nine strokes to win the title in 2022. At their respective qualifiers at Natanis Golf Club’s Arrowhead course, St. Dom’s shot a 329 to win the Western Maine Conference qualifier. Maranacook finished with a 331 to capture the Mountain Valley Conference title.
The Class A and C state championships were moved to Monday due to rain in Saturday’s forecast. Both will be played at Natanis.
Edward Little and individual players from Oxford Hills will compete in the Class A tournament, which tees off on the Tomahawk course at 10 a.m. The Class C tourney, which includes St. Dom’s, Monmouth, Rangeley and Spruce Mountain, begins at 11 a.m. on the Arrowhead course.
The Saints have finished in second in four of the past five state championships.
“So it’s one of those things where they just want to put it to bed. Finally. They want to get the monkey off the back for the program,” Whitney said. “We had a lot of that could of, should of, would of, but in the end, our better scores were in the conference championship rather than the state championship.”
Garrett Kendall, the medalist at the WMC qualifier, leads the way for St. Dom’s. Also playing for the Saints are Ethan Pelletier, Joe Adams, Mason Laflamme, Riley Daigle and Nolan Cavers.
Monmouth coach Dave Beaudoin said the Black Bears will be tough to beat.
“They are solid one through six,” Beaudoin said. “They have a few other players that push their one through six players to get into the starting lineup.”
The Mustangs, meanwhile, shot a 361 to finish third at the MVC qualifier to get to the state championship. Kents Hill (350) came in second at the MVCs. Spruce Mountain (368) also qualified from the conference qualifier.
Beaudoin said Monmouth is in good form heading into Monday.
“At the qualifier, we had our best score of the season, which was nice,” Beaudoin said. “We are ready to go and excited to go … we are playing our best golf.”
Carter O’Connell shot an 86 for Monmouth at the qualifier, while Riley Inch had an 87, Reese Beaudoin chipped in with a 93 and Kyle Bryant shot 95.
Two newcomers to competitive golf will round out Monmouth’s team for the state tournament.
“We also have Tristan Comeau and Isaac Cote, first-year golfers competing wise,” Dave Beaudoin said.
Dave Beaudoin said Monmouth’s goal is to shoot around 340 on Monday.
Spruce Mountain got scores from Alex Grimaldi (86), Daxtyn Poisson (88), Ben Burgess (97) and Jazmine Pingree (97) at the MVC qualifier. Alex Ladd and Griffin Achorn will join those four at Natanis on Monday.
Dexter is the PVC Class C champion, shooting a 371 at its qualifier. Maine Central Institute, a KVAC school, qualified at the MVC qualifier.
Rangeley, an East-West conference representative, will have Jake Bottcher, Tucker MacFawn, Barrett Quimby and Tucker Beaulieu competing.
The individual championship should be a close battle. Last year’s champion, Owen Moore of MCI, as does runner-up Wyatt Folsom of Maranacook. St. Dom’s Garrett Kendall was the WMC medalist this year and finished tied for fifth at states in 2022.
Winthrop’s Colton Baird is an individual qualifier for the boys championship.
Jillian Plamondon of MCI, the 2022 Class C girls state champion, will attempt to defend her title. Amelie Zachrisson of Kents Hill is another contender, along with Reese Beaudoin and Mattanawcook’s Abby Theriault. Mt. Abram’s Laurel Sleeper also will be competing.
“I’ve seen all the scores of the ladies in the state of Maine, Class C, and there are some of them that can shoot low,” Dave Beaudoin said. “It’s going to be a great challenge for Reese. I am proud of her; she has really stepped up her game this year.”
CLASS A TOURNEY
Two area schools will be involved in the Class A tournament on Natanis’ Tomahawk course.
Three golfers — Dustin Farrington, Shaun Kyllonen and Alexis McCormick — will tee it up for Oxford Hills.
“Dustin, this his third year golfing and second year qualifying for states as an individual,” Oxford Hills coach Peter Toohey said. “He had a great round Saturday and he was really excited about that. … Shaun, this will be his second time qualifying as an individual. He has been a very consistent golfer. He moved up to number two on the team this year.”
Farrington qualified with an 85 at the KVAC qualifier, while Kyllonen had an 88.
The top boys who will compete for an individual title are Will Farschon of Brunswick, Johnny Hwang of Falmouth, Marc Twombly of Scarborough and Andres Jimenez of Thornton Academy. Those four will be going off the first tee on Monday. The tournament is a shotgun start.
Twombly won the individual championship in 2022.
McCormick, Oxford Hill’s top golfer, shot an 79 at the qualifier. She will be in contention for the Class A girls individual championship.
“I think she has a really good shot as a top finisher, if not the top finisher,” Toohey said.
McCormick, who was on Leavitt’s 2022 Class B state championship team, has helped the Vikings through sharing swing tips and answering questions teammates have.
McCormick will be paired up with Carley Iannetta of Falmouth, Fiona Harmon of Windham and Stella Foy of Thornton Academy on Monday.
Edward Little is the lone area team going for the team championship.
The Red Eddies will be led by Connor Turcotte, Joey Samson, Carson Veilleux, Brayden Bashaw, Tyler Turcotte and TJ Kramarz.
Brunswick is seeking to defend its state championship.
“Mike Routhier and his team from Brunswick look amazing,” Toohey said. “They have top-from-bottom complete players who seem to thrive in competition. I believe they will be the team to beat this year.”
Scarborough, Falmout and Thornton Academy — all from the Southern Maine Athletic Association — will look to dethrone Brunswick.
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