Jenna Hallett of Presque Isle captured her third consecutive Penobscot Valley Conference girls’ championship Thursday, recording an 86 for a three-stroke victory at JaTo Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln.
Hallett finished ahead of Caribou’s Katie Pelletier and 14 other female golfers to earn the title. Next up for the Wildcat senior is a trip to the individual state tournament Oct. 18 at Natanis Country Club in Vassalboro. She will be attempting to make it back-to-back Maine schoolgirl championships after tying for top honors in 2013.
Hallett, who was playing her first 18-hole round of the year, was allowed to use a cart due to a degenerative knee condition.
“Going into it, I was very nervous that my knee wouldn’t hold up the entire time, but luckily it did,” Hallett said. “The round took its toll on me and I was very sore the next few days. It was obvious that I’m still very rusty as I struggled on the back nine. A lot of shots got away from me and I ended up in the woods more often than I wanted to be.”
On the front nine, Hallett recorded an eight on one of the par threes, but she said she was able to “move past it” and put together a good score to save the round.
Hallett is realistic about her chances of repeating at the state tourney.
‘Heading into States, I’m in a little different boat than I was last year. I’ve only been playing for the past month roughly, so there are some holes in my game. I’ve shot some good scores, but I’ve also had some poor rounds,” she said.
“As difficult as those poor rounds are to swallow, I’m thankful to have them — they are very humbling and they highlight the parts of my game that I need to work more on. As nice as it would be to return to PI with another state title, I’m not expecting to do that. I’ve been fortunate to have had such a successful high school career, and I’m just thankful to have been able to compete my senior year,” Hallett added.
Also qualifying for the individual state tourney was PI’s Hunter Flynn. He shot an 86, which was fourth best among Class B golfers and ninth best overall among the 85 competing in the boys’ event.
Hallett and Flynn were the only Presque Isle golfers competing in Thursday’s match, therefore the Wildcats did not qualify for this Saturday’s state team championships, which are also set at Natanis.
Making the trip to the team event will be the Fort Fairfield Tigers, which had qualified by winning the Aroostook League championship Sept. 19 at Aroostook Valley Country Club — its sixth in a row.
Defending Class C individual state champion Robbie Watson, who shot a winning round of 75 at the league championships, leads the Tigers, while Carter Bruce, Jon Bernard and Vince Campbell are other starters for coach Larry Gardner’s squad.
As the league runner-up, Central Aroostook will also represent the region in the Class C state event.
Alex Folsom is the No. 1 golfer for the Panthers, coached by Adam Metzler. Kenny Bell, Zach Grass and Shane Stackpole were the other CA golfers who rounded out the top four at the league championships.
