VASSALBORO – On a bright, beautiful, balmy day featuring loads of sunshine and temperatures in the mid-70’s, the main topic of conversation at the end of Saturday’s Maine Individual Schoolboy and Schoolgirl golf championships was … Frost?

Yes Frost, as in the brother-sister combo from Calais High School that came within five shots of making it a clean sweep at Natanis Golf Course.

Older brother James Frost engineered a sweep of his own as he coolly fired a 1-over-par 73 to edge Winthrop’s Blake Eldridge by one stroke and win his third straight Class C state crown.

“I had a 94 here my freshman year here, so I never thought I’d ever win three in a row, but I worked a lot on my driving after that year and that’s what really helped me do this,” Frost said.

The other Frost – younger sister and girls runnerup Katie – finished five shots behind Leavitt of Turner senior Emily Allen, who won her second straight championship with a 9-over-par 81.

“I was fifth my freshman year and third last year, so hopefully I can keep climbing up the ladder and go number one next year,” said the Calais junior.

In other divisional action, junior Nick Martin from Nokomis of Newport and York senior Dustin Freeman turned in the best scores of the day with even-par 72s to win the Class A and B titles, respectively.

Class A Boys: It was essentially an all-or-nothing proposition for Martin. Not only was he the only golfer from his team to qualify for the individual championships, his young Warriors were unable to qualify for next week’s team championships.

“I did put a little more pressure on myself since we didn’t qualify for the team championships,” Martin admitted. “This is great because it’s our only postseason match. I’m glad I made the most of it.”

Warriors coach Jim DiFrederico said Martin’s win is something his team can build on.

“We lost some real key seniors from our state runnerup team last year, so it’s been a rebuilding year,” DiFrederico said. “This gives us a good building block for next year and hopefully it’ll be a springboard for us into next year.”

Martin, who shot an 84 at this competition last year, chalked up Saturday’s superior outing to practice, practice, practice.

“I played just about every day this summer and I played a lot of Junior MSGA [Maine State Golf Association] tournaments,” Martin explained. “That really helped me improve my game.”

Class C Boys: James Frost, who hopes to be playing varsity golf at Mississippi State University next fall, said it was exciting to have his round come down to the final shot. Both he and Eldridge were dueling almost from the opening hole on.

Frost held a scant one-stroke lead going into his 16th hole of competition (the par 3, 155-yard No. 2 hole on Natanis’ Tomahawk course), but that evaporated after he two-putted for a bogey and Eldridge sunk a 12-footer for par.

Each got into trouble with their tee shots on No. 3, although Eldridge recovered with a nice tee shot. He had a chance to take a lead with a short putt, but put it a foot past the hole and settled for a bogey – the same thing Frost managed on the 165-yard par 3.

That left the final hole.

Eldridge hit his tee shot just in front of a small bog on a downward slope. His second shot was deflected by a big reed at the edge of the far side of the bog and landed just 25 yards past the bog. Meanwhile, Frost hit a clean tee shot and got on the green two shots later.

Eldridge recovered with a nice shot just to the right of the green, but his chip had too much steam and overran the green to the other side. Another chip later, Eldridge had a nice two-putt from 20-plus feet away for bogey, but Frost shook off a bad chip and two-putted for par and the title.

“I liked it. That was very, very fun … Especially after it started to swing in my favor,” Frost said with a chuckle. “I guess that’s where the last two years came in handy. I’m a lot more consistent and definitely a lot more confident.

“Most of this game is mental and I know if I play good, I’m gonna win. And I really didn’t play that great today but it was enough to win, so I guess I can’t complain.”

Eldridge said the missed putt on No. 3 was the critical shot.

“If I made that, I probably wouldn’t have tried to hit that 3-wood [over the bog] and I might have been more smart on the shot selection,” he said.

Girls: Like Martin, Allen found herself playing for personal and team pride as she was the only Hornet in the field. And then there was the added pressure of being defending champion.

“This one was a lot tougher for me because I was the only one from Leavitt and all my teachers and everybody at school were telling me all week I was going to win it so this is a big relief,” she said through a wide grin.

For her part, Katie Frost was happy with second place and a nice trophy. In fact, it came as something of a surprise.

“I didn’t even know I came in second until they announced it,” Frost said with a laugh. “I like to concentrate on my game and not know what everyone else is doing.”

Winthrop senior Marga Hatfield, who was forced to play last year’s event in a cart due to a spinal cord stress fracture, was pain- and cart-free Saturday. Her score (91, one stroke out of the top three) also left her smile-free afterward.

“It was great to be able to walk the course with everyone else,” said a disappointed Hatfield. “I just wish I’d played better.”

Class B Boys: Western Maine, led by Freeman, swept the top five places. Maine Central Insitute’s Kory Martin and Hermon’s Adam Smith were the East’s top finishers in sixth with a 76.

The top three golfers in each division qualify to play in the New England Championships later this year. Those qualifiers are as follows:

Class A: Martin, Tyler MacPhie (Kennebunk), Joe Baker (Oxford Hills).

Class B: Freeman, Garrett Copp (Poland), Denny Mitchell (Falmouth).

Class C: Frost, Eldridge, Nick Pelotte (Valley)

Girls: Allen, Frost, (tie) Megan Angis (Thornton Academy) and Nikki Fillion (Greely).