It’s been at least 10 years since Maine Central Institute has qualified for the state golf team championships, but the Huskies will be on hand today to compete for the Class B title at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro.

MCI was a force in the 1990’s under coach and J.W. Parks golf pro Mike Dugas. They won a state championship in 1997 while team member Sam Marzenell captured individual titles in 1996, ’97 and ’98.

This year, Dugas’ son Gavin, a freshman, is the team’s No. 1 player. He’s joined by sophomores Dylan Watrous and Trevor Kitchin and seniors Cameron Neal and Garth Stockwell.

“This group of kids, they played all summer,” MCI coach Paul Greco said. “It’s their main sport.”

The Huskies were one of four teams from the Class B division of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference to qualify at Natanis last week. The others include Maranacook, Lincoln and Winslow.

Maranacook and MCI both went 8-2 during the regular season, but Lincoln qualified last year and has been solid all season.

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“Out of our league, they’re pretty strong,” Greco said.

Winslow finished 5-5 but qualified Ryan Dutil and Justin Kervin for Saturday’s individual championships. Justin Murray, Jarrod Parish and Mike Carpenter round out the lineup.

“We want to make a competitive showing,” coach Bruce Stafford said.

Class A and B teams will play the Tomahawk Course today while the Class C championship will be contested on the Arrowhead course. Tomahawk is considered slightly more difficult of the two 18s at Natanis.

Gorham is the defending Class A champ while Falmouth won last year in Class B and Houlton took Class C. Falmouth, which demolished the Class B field last year, shooting 315, returns four golfers from that team. The Yachtsmen have since moved to Class A and will be one of the teams to beat.

St. Dominic, which lost by a stroke to Houlton last year, also returns a strong lineup and will be one of the Class C favorites.

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Lawrence qualified for the Class A championships for the first time in school history. The Bulldogs went 9-2 in the regular season and edged Lewiston by a stroke in the KVAC qualifier last week.

Their lineup includes sophomore Aaron Brown, juniors Nick Nolles, Tyler Boudreau and Jordan Nutting and senior Keith Chesley. Freshman Kelsie Dessent played the sixth spot much of the year, losing just two matches, and qualified for Saturday’s schoolgirl championship.

Gary Hawkins — 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com


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