By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The Presque Isle Wildcats and Caribou Vikings both earned berths into the Class B state golf championships, to be played Monday at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro.
The two central Aroostook County schools qualified at Thursday’s Penobscot Valley Conference Championship, held at JaTo Highlands in Lincoln. Presque Isle placed first with a score of 324, while Caribou was the fourth and final team to qualify with a 357.
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
Hitting a putt on the first hole at Limestone Country Club Friday is Fort Fairfield’s Billy Weissman. The Tigers will participate in the state championship on Oct. 8, at Natanis.
Hermon and Foxcroft Academy were the other Class B schools to make it into the state competition, while Houlton and Deer Isle-Stonington qualified for the Class C event.
The Wildcats had three golfers shoot in the 70s Thursday, with Evan Waddell placing third out of 106 golfers with his 78 and both Connor Shaw and Adam Flynn carding 79s on the day to tie for fourth. With their performances, all three made it into the Oct. 15 individual state tourney, also to be held at Natanis. Those shooting 86 or lower qualified for the state event.
PI coach James York said that it was the 88 posted by Matt Sullivan that rounded out the impressive team score and ultimately gave the Wildcats the title.
“It was one of [Matt’s] lowest rounds all year and it sealed the championship,” said York. “I couldn’t be happier about how we performed as a team. All four guys did a great job of just playing one shot at a time and didn’t worry about anything else that could get their mind wandering — which is easy to do when you are on a golf course for six hours.”
Caribou coach Shawn Savage, whose team had defeated Presque Isle in a match held nine days earlier at JaTo, said qualifying for the state tournament was a goal the team had set to accomplish since the end of last season. The Vikings did have to play a waiting game before finding out they were moving on.
“The team was a little disappointed with their scores [Thursday],” he said. “However, it was good enough to qualify and when it was announced, the team went from dejected to elated.”
Matt Kamm was the only Viking to qualify for the individual state tourney with his low round of 85. Ben Wyman came in with an 87, Caleb Chapman a 93, Reggie Rideout a 100 and Cory Rideout a 101 to round out the scores for the Vikes.
Presque Isle and Caribou each had female golfers who turned in state-qualifying efforts. Freshman Jenna Hallett of the Wildcats carded a 95 and placed second only to Fort Kent’s Ali Prescott, the defending state champion who had an 86.
“Jenna did a great job of keeping her poise and has worked hard all year to get to this point,” York said.
Katie Pelletier of Caribou, also a freshman, had a 109 and beat the qualifying standard by one stroke.
“She was on Cloud 9 and should be as a freshman who hasn’t been playing long,” Savage said.
York is looking forward to Monday and believes his team can challenge for a team title.
“We are very capable of bringing home a state championship if we maintain our composure and continue to support each other along the way,” York said.
Fort Fairfield and Ashland are the local teams competing in the Class C tourney Monday. Both qualified at the Aroostook League championship held in Limestone Sept. 23. The Tigers placed first and the Hornets were runners-up.
Last Tuesday, the Vikings and Wildcats met in a regular season match held at Presque Isle Country Club. Presque Isle compiled 157 strokes and defeated Caribou by 19. Flynn shot a 34 to garner medalist honors, while Waddell had a 39 and Cody Merrill and Gabe Player each carded 42s.
Wyman led the Vikes with a 43, while the Rideout brothers both had 44s and Kamm a 45.
