VASSALBORO — Cole Anderson had company atop the leaderboard Saturday at Natanis Golf Course. A little too much for comfort, in fact.

The Camden Hills junior shared a piece of his third consecutive Class A individual golf state championship, tying Scarborough’s Anthony Burnham with a 2-under 70 on the Tomahawk layout as the two golfers finished as co-champions.

“I think because Anthony and I are both super-competitive people, we’d both love to go out and play a playoff right now,” Anderson said. “If there’s anyone I’d be happy to share it with, it’s Anthony. He’s a good kid and I like him a lot, and he played well today.”

Anderson became just the third golfer in Class A history to win three straight state championships – joining Ryan Gay of Gardiner (2006-08) and Kevin MacDonald of Morse (1990-92). Gay tied for all three of his titles, while Anderson won his first two outright.

“We’ll come back next year and try and complete the streak,” Anderson said. “I wasn’t thinking about it. I just wanted to win today.”

Elizabeth Lacognata of Scarborough was the girls’ champion, Cape Elizabeth’s Austin Legge won Class B boys, and Logan Thompson of Mattanawcook won Class C boys for the fourth consecutive season.

Thompson posted the day’s low round, carding a 6-under 66 on the Arrowhead course. His round contained three eagles, all on Arrowhead’s front nine, which were the final nine holes he played after starting on No. 10.

“After the front nine I had, it definitely surprised me,” Thompson said. “On No. 4, I threw a close one in on my second shot and made an eagle putt. That got my round going.”

Anderson, who birdied four of his first seven holes, played in a group with Lucas Roop of Gorham, the 2016 runner-up, Thornton’s Amand Ouellette and Mt. Ararat’s Caleb Manuel. Every member of the foursome wound up in the top five, as Roop placed third with a 72, followed by Ouellette (73) and Manuel (74).

The emergence of Burnham came as a bit of a surprise, though Anderson felt as though his 70 wasn’t going to be enough to win the Class A title.

“That’s the downside to a one-day tournament, is that you can’t tell who’s going to be in it and who isn’t going to be,” Anderson said. “You’ve just got to go out and try and go as low as possible.

“I did that well for the first seven, and then I faltered. I sort of knew – I had a gut feeling – that it wasn’t going to be enough.”

Burnham said playing in a different group from Anderson helped his game.

“I played pretty steady with pars and birdies,” he said. “I really focus on one shot at a time and keeping present-moment focus. As long as I do that, I can play my game.”

Legge, a junior, beat Cape Elizabeth teammate Ryan Collins by three strokes, joining Anderson and Burnham as the only golfers to play Tomahawk under par.

Sam Smestad of Nokomis finished third in Class B, five shots off the lead.

Kents Hill’s Mitchell Tarrio was the Class C runner-up, five shots behind Thompson. Carson Veilleux of Forest Hills and Jacob Gaudin of Dirigo tied for third at 77.

Lacognata, a senior, ran away with the girls’ title as she blitzed through her front nine in 6 under. She was 4 over for her last nine holes, but still finished three shots better than Jordan Laplume of Thornton Academy. Rachel Smith of Greely was third with an 80.

“The back was definitely a haul,” said Lacognata. “I knew once I hit the back nine, it was a game of everything I’ve been practicing and battling through the nerves. I was just trying to keep my standing in the position I knew I was in.”

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