HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Morse takes Class A title

BY KEVIN THOMAS

BRUNSWICK — Morse High swimming coach Todd Marco arrived for the finals of the Class A state girls state swimming and diving championship Tuesday night with a newly-styled mohawk, courtesy of his swimmers.

“I told the girls they could do it if they swam well in the morning,” Marco said.

Imagine what they will do to their coach now.

Morse followed a strong preliminary performance with a top-notch effort in the finals to capture the state championship at Bowdoin College. It was the Shipbuilders’ first-ever girls swimming state title.

Morse, led by junior Emily Buczkowski’s wins in the 50 and 100 freestyle, totaled 255points.

Scarborough, which finished second in the boys meet on Monday, took second again, with 210 in the girls competition.

Red Storm junior Scarborough junior Laura Flewelling paced her team with two individual wins, in the 200 freestyle (1:53.56) and 500 freestyle (5:17.23

Cheverus likewise repeated its third-place finish from the boys meet Monday with 198 points on Tuesday.

The Messalonskee High School girls finished fifth with 159 points. The Cony girls were ninth with 115.

Jenni Roberts, the sensational senior from Sanford, made it a three-peat Tuesday with her third straight Performer of the Meet honor.

Roberts, headed to the University of Maryland on a swimming scholarship, set state records in the 200 individual medley (2:04.63) and 100 butterfly (55.89).

Roberts qualified for All-American status in both.

“I was dying in the 100 fly,” Roberts said. “I felt good in the first 50, and then I just gave everything I had left.”

In previous meets, Roberts had set state records in the 100 freestyle (52.46) and 100 backstroke (56.90).

Other individual winners Tuesday included Brunswick freshman Jessica Russell in the 100 backstroke (59.76), Deering freshman Genevieve Worthely in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.50) and Bangor senior diver Meghan Rowe.

The girls meet figured to come down to Morse, Scarborough and Cheverus. The Shipbuilders set themselves up well in the morning, qualifying all three relay teams and eight individuals in the championship finals, plus eight swimmers in the consolation finals.

Scarborough had six individual spots and two relay teams in the championship finals, plus one diver. Cheverus had five individuals and three relay teams in the championship finals, and two divers.

Scarborough jumped out in the first event, winning the 200 medley relay in 1:56.15. Flewelling’s butterfly leg (27.84) put the Red Storm in the lead for good. Dayna Ankermann, Samantha Couillard and Lucy Iselborn made up the rest of the relay.

Flewelling rested briefly and won the next event, the 200 freestyle.

The Red Storm had scored 66 points, but the shipbuilders’ depth kept them close. In the 200 freestyle, three Morse swimmers placed — Caitlin Foster (fifth), Casandra Bonnett (13th) and Catie Luedee (14th).

In the diving, Bangor won four of the top five places, paced by Rowe’s 308.65 points. Brunswick junior Kayla Purinton finished second (303.8). The Rams, always strong in the diving, jumped in second place temporarily.

Messalonskee had a pair of relay teams earned third-place finishes and the Eagles picked up five top five finishes.

The Eagles 200 medley relay team of Lindsey Prelgovisk, Samantha Mathieu, Amanda Joy and Samantha Briggs finished third with a time of 1:57.02. Their 200 free team of Prelgovisk, Briggs, Courtney Klaiber and Mathieu was also third with a time of 1:46.28.

Also for Messalonskee, Mathieu was fourth in the 100 free and the 100 back, Prelgovisk was third in the 100 fly, and Joy was fourth in the 200 free and the 500 free.

The Cony 400 free relay team finished second with a time of 3:59.48.

The team consisted of Victoria Weber, Liz Barker, Alyssa Dufour and Phoebe Campbell. Also for the Rams, Weber finished second in the 100 free with a time of 1:01.62.