Freeport sophomore Eli Spaulding tees off during the Class B state golf championships on Oct. 8 at Natanis Golf Club in Vassalboro. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
The 2021 high school golf season saw the return of championships and more matches compared to what was played in the pandemic-altered 2020 campaign.
The two-month long season — golfers had just three weeks of competition in 2020 — culminated with state championships at Natanis Golf Club in Vassalboro.
And the Midcoast was well represented on the state stage.
Freeport sophomore Eli Spaulding won the individual Class B title with a 4-under 68 at Natanis.
“What Eli did at the state championship was nothing short of amazing,” said Freeport head coach Jason Ouelette. “He is doing things on the golf course that we don’t typically see in high school and he’s got a bright future ahead of him, on and off of the course.”
Freeport’s Eli Spaulding celebrates after sinking a putt during the Class B state championships on Oct. 8 at Natanis Golf Club in Vassalboro. Spaulding shot 4-under 68 to win the boys individual title. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Spaulding finished nine strokes ahead of runnerup finisher Kellen Adickes of Lincoln Academy. The Falcons finished sixth out of 10 teams in Class B.
“I think we showed a lot of improvement throughout the season,” said Ouelette. “We lost three of our top golfers last season, so I was very pleased with our 6th place finish with three freshmen and a sophomore.”
Mt. Ararat senior Ty Henke posted a 6-over 78 in the Class A championship match. He was the top Midcoast finisher in Class A. Charlie Austin of Brunswick was close behind, with a 10-over 82.
The Dragons finished fifth out of 10 teams at the Class A state championship team match, while the Eagles took 7th.
“I think the season went about as planned,” said Mt. Ararat head coach Gerry Caron. “We had some ups and downs, but that’s golf.”
Mt. Ararat’s Ty Henke chips onto the No. 18 green while competing in the KVAC qualifier Ton Oct. 5 at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
The Dragons and Eagles also faced each other several times throughout the fall.
“It was nice to go up against a great team like Mt. Ararat on a weekly basis,” said Brunswick head coach Mike Routhier.
Out of Mt. Ararat’s nine regular season matches, six came against Camden Hills and Brunswick at Brunswick Golf Club.
“It still didn’t feel completely back to normal, there were still signs of COVID changing things on our schedule,” said Caron. “We got very familiar with those two teams, but we barely played away from home. The tri-matches put an interesting twist on things, but I think our players appreciate just going up against one school.”
Elsewhere in Class B, Morse had a young but deep roster with 16 golfers competing.
“We were in major restart mode to begin the season,” said Shipbuilders coach Mike Dutton. “With that being said, we were the largest team in terms of the number of golfers that I saw all season.”
The Shipbuilders didn’t win a match all season, falling to Leavitt in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference preliminary match. Dutton said Morse’s first match team score was 268. It shot a 211 against Leavitt in Turner.
“The improvement was fantastic, but we had a lot of inexperienced golfers this season,” he said. “We genuinely had 15 of our 16 golfers improve immensely, something we hope we can build on in the near future.”
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