By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
CARIBOU — The win-loss record may not reflect it, but the Viking varsity golf team has had a successful year.
Caribou took a 1-4 mark into its regular season finale against Fort Kent Monday, but coach Shawn Savage has been impressed with what he’s seen from his young team.
“We have a group of really solid kids who listen and learn quickly. As a result, all kids have improved their technique, confidence and scoring ability over the course of the season,” Savage said. “Our goal as a group was to be competitive in Aroostook County and to make strides scoring as individuals throughout the season. So far we have been able to do that.”
Caribou’s roster of 10 golfers includes only one senior (Connor Thibeault) and two juniors (Dayne Savage and Katie Pelletier). Five sophomores and two freshmen round out the team.
Dayne Savage has been the Vikes’ top golfer in all of the matches, averaging 42 strokes per nine holes, and is coming off a 2012 season where he barely missed out in joining the field for the individual state tournament by losing in a tie-breaker. He’ll have another chance to make it if he shoots well at Thursday’s Penobscot Valley Conference Championship at JaTo Highlands in Lincoln, which also serves as the qualifier for the state tourney.
Dayne started on the varsity soccer team as a freshman but decided to make golf his fall sport of choice prior to his sophomore season. He had played a great deal when he was really young before taking some time off to dedicate to other sports like baseball and soccer from age 9 to 15.
“On his own, he had started playing and practicing again,” said his father and coach. “The biggest stride he has made from last year to this is his consistency. He consistently shoots between 39-44 and last year, he was between 40-50.
“The reason is pretty simple — he puts the time in on his own. He and his younger brother (sophomore Donovan) played at least nine holes on a regular basis any chance they could in the spring and summer,” said Shawn Savage. “Like any sport, you also have to practice on your own in addition to playing. Both boys did that by working on the pieces of the game separately and hitting the driving range.”
Donovan Savage carries an average of 45.4 and has the second lowest average on the team. Behind him is sophomore Tyler Dombroski, who is the most improved golfer on the team with a 47.4 average. Thibeault is next, averaging 49, and has played his best golf late in the season. Sophomore Justin Ouellette is the team’s fifth golfer with a 51.8 average.
Pelletier is a third-year golfer who has qualified for the state schoolgirl tourney each of the past two seasons and has a good chance to make it three in a row. Freshmen Connor Plourde and Michael Smith and sophomores Jordan Bevins and Richard Sheldon are the other Viking golfers.
Coach Savage is hoping his team can put together its best showing of the season Thursday at JaTo.
“The keys to success at PVC’s are experience, short game and course management,” he said. “If we take advantage of our practice rounds and gather course knowledge, chip and putt well and think before we pull clubs out of bags, I am confident we will score to the best of our ability. As a coach, that’s all you can ask.”
