PITTSFIELD - The players in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 golf tournament get the opportunity take a day off from school in order to compete. For two of the youngest teams that came to the Berkshire Hills Country Club, the 18 holes proved to be another classroom.

It was a long day for the golfers from Smith and Hopkins Academy, as they finished seventh and eighth in the eight-team competition.

"We were coming here for the experience," Hopkins coach Rick Berger said. "We said it was big for the future of our program if we could qualify for the tournament and go see what it was like. That's what we got out of it."

It wasn't all that long ago that Hopkins brought home the gold trophy. Hopkins won the title in 2009, and that team kept Lenox from claiming back-to-back trophies.

The Millionaires from Berkshire County did get back on the winner's stand Monday. Four Lenox golfers placed in the top 10 with Dan Palmer earning medalist honors as the Millionaires won their third title.

Lenox finished with a score of 315, while Franklin Tech was second at 334 and Pioneer Valley was fourth at 336.

Palmer shot a 3-over-par 75 for the lowest 18-hole score of his career. He beat Zach L. Brown of St. Mary's and Bryan Cota of McCann Tech by one shot, while Lenox's Thomas Villetto was two strokes behind.

"We have a veteran team," Lenox coach Dick Salinetti said. "I suspected we might have a pretty good team this year. We haven't played that well, but we've been playing better and playing up to this tournament and peaking. We've had some good practice sessions. It just all came together today."

Palmer won the individual trophy by making birdies on the 17th and 18th holes, giving him a one-stroke win over Cota and Brown. Palmer and Brown were in the same foursome.

The Division 3 state championship will take place on Oct. 31 at the Glen Ellen Country Club in Millis.

Smith Academy's Matt Muccino had his squad's best score with an 84, one stroke ahead of teammate Steve Bruscoe.

For Hopkins, Andrew Omer shot 90 and brother Russell shot 94.

Smith coach David Keir said that the rebuilding plan is moving along well, and Monday's performance in the tournament will do nothing but speed things up.

"We graduated five seniors last year, so we're very fortunate that we even qualified this year," Keir said. "We had a really nice year. The kids played very well. I didn't think we'd qualify, so we were excited to be here.

"I have four freshmen, a sophomore and a junior in my lineup. We're here for the experience. I think the kids had an enjoyable day and learned a lot about themselves."

The Division 3 medalist had a nice start with birdies on his first and second holes. Palmer made the turn at even-par 35, but then had two bogeys and two double bogeys. He needed to finish strong and birdied the par-3 17th and par-5 18th to maintain his edge on the leaderboard.

"Coming into that last hole, I knew my teammates were playing well. I knew I was playing well. It definitely adds a level of confidence when you know the other players on the team are supporting you," Palmer said. "The 75 wouldn't have meant anything if I didn't have a good team behind me."

The six golfers for Lenox shot within 11 strokes of each other. The four who scored ranged from 75 to 82.

That's the kind of success both Berger and Keir would like to emulate. One way to get there is to see how it is done. Hopkins sent a seventh grader, an eighth grader, a freshman, two sophomores and a senior to Berkshire Hills.

"We went 8-2 in our league and we only lost to the league champions Granby, the Granby-Holyoke Catholic co-op. So we lost twice to a Division 2 school, and that got us in," Berger said. "From that time on, we were preparing for what it was going to be like."