ROCKLAND — The Mount View High School golf team made the most of its first trip to the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Shootout.

Senior Austin Higgins tied for medalist honors with a 3-over-par 37 as the Mustangs posted a team score of 170 to take the KVAC Class B title Monday afternoon at Rockland Golf Club. Joey Danna shot a 43, Ross Delorenzo a 44 and Darrell Roberts a 46 to round out the scoring for Mount View.

“(It means) a lot, especially for our school. We haven’t done very well in the past years,” Higgins said. “It’s good to help out for the win.”

For Higgins in particular it was a special day. The senior played for Mount View as a freshman but grades kept him from competing for the Mustangs the past two seasons.

He worked to improve in the classroom, though, and it paid off for his team Monday.

“I didn’t have the grades for it, wasn’t doing well in school, but I really wanted to get back at it my senior year and put the work into it,” Higgins said. “It takes me a little while to get used to staying on task but when I do, I can. I just had to put my mind to it.”

Higgins’ round was highlighted by a birdie on No. 16 as he managed to keep the ball out of trouble for the majority of the round.

“The 16th I put a nice drive out there, hit a good approach and made the putt for birdie. A couple bogeys here and there. I only hit three bad shots that I can remember,” Higgins said. “I was just playing my game.”

Paced by the play of Sam Jermyn (42), Logan Peacock (42), Cody Rizzo (43) and Michael Glazier (45), Gardiner finished second with a 172.

“We try to shoot pretty consistently. We’re a good, low-40s team,” Jermyn said. “You can’t really complain about those scores. One in the 30s would have been nice to cut down a couple strokes since we only lost by two, but I’m pretty happy with how we played as a team.”

Co-medalist Gavin Dugas (37) and Carter Pearl (38) led MCI to a third-place finish with a team score of 173. Nate Tilton shot a 47 and Anna Smith a 51 to complete the top four for MCI.

Connor Paine had the low round for Erskine with a 43 as the Eagles placed fourth with a 195. Justin Browne (45), Reid Rauch (53) and Robert Harmon (54) rounded out the top four for Erskine.

In KVAC A, Stephanie Rodrigue and Alex Roberts shot 38 and 39, respectively, to lead Lewiston to the title with a team score of 161. Dylan Burton shot a 39 as Messalonskee was second with a 172, while Brewer placed third with a 185. Jacob Bernatchez shot a 43 and Blake Marden a 44 for Messalonskee, while Jared Cunningham and Riley Campbell each carded 46.

Lewiston and Mount View each qualified for the Class A and B championships, respectively, by virtue of their performances Monday.

Evan Crawley — 621-5640

ecrawley@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @Evan_Crawley