Five Lions, Mariners, one Windjammer to participate in team and/or individual events
VASSALBORO — The Midcoast certainly will be well represented at the state high school golf championships on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9-10 at Natanis Golf Club.
That is be because two area teams — Belfast and Oceanside of Rockland — and 11 local individuals played well enough in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference state qualifiers on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at the same course to earn another round — this one for all the state championship marbles.
For area teams, Belfast, Oceanside and Medomak Valley of Waldoboro participated in the league's Class B qualifier and Camden Hills of Rockport in the league's Class A qualifier.
In Class B, Leavitt of Turner won the league crown with a strong performance, while the Hornets, Waterville, Belfast, Oceanside and Gardiner qualified for the state Class B championship event.
In Class A, Mount Ararat of Topsham, Messalonskee of Oakland and Edward Little of Auburn qualified for the state Class A event. The Eagles finished at +33 to finish first. Camden Hills did not qualify.
At Tuesday's event, golfers looked to qualify for the states as members of their qualifying teams or as individuals. This year, the Maine Principals' Association decided golfers could earn spots in the state individual tourney, as usual, but also gave spots in the individual state event to each member of the qualifying teams.
Thus, all Belfast Lions and Oceanside Mariners earned spots in the state team and individual competitions.
Belfast's Thomas Parker, Tommy Walker, James Ritter, K.J. Payson and Hagen Chase, as well as Oceanside's Austin Chilles, Noah McLellan, Rhys Jones, Bryson Mattox and Darik Johnson, will play in the state team and individual competition.
In Class B, the cutoff to qualify as an individual was 90, thus, even if their teams had not qualified, Lions Walker, Ritter and Parker, as well as Mariners Chilles and Johnson, would have qualified as individuals.
In Class A, the cutoff to qualify as an individual was 88. Camden Hills' Parker Hilchey also qualified for the Class A individual tourney.
The girls individual state qualifying cutout was 100 or lower.
The Class A tourney will be Friday, Oct. 9 at 11 a.m. and the Class B event on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 10 a.m., both at Natanis.
Jim Leonard, athletic director at Maine Central Institute and longtime KVAC Class B golf coordinator, said the "MPA allows the conferences to send forward the same number of individual boys as there are teams in the conference. Thus, we had 13 teams involved in the B qualifier yesterday. That meant we could send 13 golfers (outside of those who qualified as individuals through the team competition) on to the states — provided they scored 90 or below. After entering the names of the golfers who qualified for individual states through the team competition, we only had one other golfer who shot a 90 or better."
The KVAC Class B team scores, with the low four-golfer, 18-hole scores compiled in relation to par, were: Leavitt +39; Waterville +62; Belfast +85; Oceanside and Gardiner +86; Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield +119; Erskine Academy of South China +121; Spruce Mountain of Jay +128; Nokomis of Newport +138; Medomak Valley +147; Morse of Bath +178; Lawrence of Fairfield +185; and Lincoln Academy of Newcastle +186.
Leavitt, Waterville, Belfast, Oceanside and Gardiner qualified for the states.
The KVAC Class A team scores, with the low four-golfer, 18-hole scores compiled in relation to par, were: Mount Ararat +33; Messalonskee +50; Edward Little +57; Cony of Augusta +60; Brunswick +64; Camden Hills +65; Lewiston +66; Individual girls from Lawrence of Fairfield, Leavitt of Turner, Maine Central Institute, Oxford Hills of South Paris, Morse of Bath, Skowhegan and Messalonskee +90; and Skowhegan +95.
Mount Ararat, Messalonskee and Edward Little qualified for the states.
The following are the individual scores — 64 golfers in Class B and 49 in Class A — for the four area teams from the KVAC state qualifier:
Belfast — Tommy Walker, 83 (tied 4th); James Ritter, 87 (tied 8th); Thomas Parker, 88 (tied 10th); K.J. Payson, 115 (45th); and Hagen Chase, 119 (tied 49th).
Camden Hills — Parker Hilchey, 81 (tied 5th); Aiden O'Connell, 89 (tied 19th); Bryler Fisher, 91 (tied 24th); Liam O'Dwyer, 92 (tied 28th); and Jordan Peasley, 97 (tied 35th).
Oceanside — Austin Chilles, 88 (tied 10th); Darik Johnson, 88 (tied 10th); Bryson Mattox, 98 (tied 23rd); Noah McLellan, 100 (tied 28th); and Rhys Jones, 103 (tied 32nd).
Medomak Valley — Sean Sebrey, 91 (16th); Tyler Metcalf, 99 (tied 26th); Natalie Stewart, 119 (tied 49th); and Noah Crosby, 126 (tied 57th). Matthew Sirois withdrew.