The men’s golf season began this weekend in Cumberland, Maine at the Val Halla Golf Course, where 11 teams competed in the two-day Maine State Tournament. The Mules finished in seventh place, and two of the five Colby players scored in the top 20 for individual results. Colby alumna Mallory Young ’05 also began her first season with the golf team as head coach, replacing Jim Tortorella.

Team captain Harry Smith ’12 shot the lowest individual score of the weekend for Colby; he shot an 80 on Friday and a 79 on Saturday for a combined score of 159. He finished in 14th place out of 53, 12 strokes behind first-place Bobby Kaminski of Bowdoin College.

Tripp Huber ’13 tied for 20th place with Brett Kapteina of the University of Southern Maine and Lee Smith of Bates College. All three men had a combined score of 164. Taggie Martin ’13 was two strokes behind in a four-way tie for 27th place with Mathew Brown of the University of New England, Garrett Johnson of Bates and Ebb Walton of Saint Joseph’s College. Alex Hymanson ’12 shot 173 for 39th place with Nick Mullins of the University of Southern Maine, and Pete Gabranski ’13 shot 174 for 41st place along with Tyler Moody of the University of New England.

Husson University took the gold with a total team score of 600. This score was 24 strokes over par, with a total of 295 on the first day and 305 on the second. Bowdoin was only six strokes behind in second place, and the University of Southern Maine finished in third place (651). The University of New England, Bates and Saint Joseph’s were fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively, followed by Colby in seventh.

The Mules shot 336 and 321 for a combined score of 657 and were 81 strokes over par. Southern Maine Community College (665), the University of Maine at Presque Isle (665), the University of Maine at Machias (703) and the University of Maine at Farmington (708) followed. After the tournament, Gabranski looked forward to New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) competition, “Maine States was a good warm-up for us. We know what to do. NESCACs—can’t wait.” Colby hosts the next tournament at home on Sept. 24.