The Penobscot Valley Conference has grown to 12 swimming and diving teams comprised of two divisions. Caribou, Foxcroft Academy, Ellsworth, Hampden, Presque Isle and Washington Academy comprise one division while Orono, Old Town, Mount Desert High, John Bapst Memorial, Brewer and Bangor form the other division.
This week teams from outside the greater Bangor area are previewed.
Caribou, coached by Erin Tateishi, practices at the Limestone aquatic facility and has a roster of 16 swimmers. In the recent PVC Relay Carnival, the Vikings scored 30 points in the boys competition and 20 in the girls, including a fifth-place finish in the boys 250 shuttle relay.
Ellsworth, led by one of the state’s elite swimmers in Brian Batson, has 27 swimmers including three from George Stevens Academy.
“We have a dedicated group, supportive parents and we are having fun,” said Jim Goodman, the sixth-year coach of the Eagles.
In addition to captain Batson, backstroker Zach White, individual medley swimmer and 500 freestyler Travis Denison join Lyle Stepson, Zach Smith and Tucker Cambridge to provide the Eagles the flexibility to race “really strong relays,” according to Goodman.
He also expects his Eagles to race competitively in individual events as well. For the young and inexperienced girls squad, freshmen Laney Cochene is described by her coach as “an all-around great swimmer.”
Foxcroft Academy, coached by Alexandria Boyer, fields 20 swimmers and among the swimmers are international students from Korea and China.
“We have some top swimmers whose times continue to get better,” said the second-year Pony coach. “My goal is to teach all the swimmers about being an athlete, a swimmer, and a good person.”
Seth Oldfield leads the Pony swimmers.
“He is a beautiful swimmer who works really hard,” his coach explained.
One of Oldfield’s goals for the season is to establish new Pony records in several events, Boyer noted. Supporting Oldfield is freshman Zach Evans, who has displayed “solid strokes and promise,” Boyer added. For the girls, senior talent Marley Clark and captain Julia Kurzius, holder of several Foxcroft records, lead the young team.
Hampden Academy, offering swimming and diving as a varsity sport for the fourth year, has attracted 22 boys and 38 girls. Coached by Jason Snyder, who served as an assistant for the Hurricane Swim Club under former head coach Tim Babcock, Hampden practices at the Hoyt Pool.
With only three lanes available for training at the Hoyt, Snyder and assistant coach Samual Manhart have incorporated an extensive dryland routine into the training program and already this season the young team has met 12 time standards for the Class B State Meet.
Juniors Dillon Brawn and Spencer Ranger, both of whom have qualified in the 50 and 100 free, lead the boys. The girls are led by sophomore Jen Dixon in the 200 and 500 freestyle.
“She has taken off. Every time she swims she improves,” Snyder claimed.
Joining Dixon in pacing the young team is freshman Caitlyn Swalec, a state meet qualifier in several events. Swalec is one of 24 freshmen on the team.
“It is a real good class,” Snyder observed.
Presque Isle will travel for all of the dual meets save one which will be held at, the Presque Isle Community Pool. “The kids enjoy the bus rides, said Joyce Price, Wildcat coach.
She will be assisted by John Leber, who recently relocated to Presque Isle after coaching the Potomac Virginia age group team.
There are 15 boys and 14 girls.
Senior Cam Winter, junior Kyle Gilson, Kerrie Brawn, Allison Young and Eric Hemple lead the team. With no age group team in the area, the PI coaches teach the swimmers the fundamentals of each stroke in addition to preparing them to race.
“We want everybody to improve their strokes and their times,” Price explained.
Washington Academy in East Machias will compete in the PVC dual meet season racing Hampden Academy, Caribou, Foxcroft, Presque Isle and Ellsworth following the Christmas break.
Lane lines
Three students, Ben Avery, Jessica McCannell and Jesse Byer from George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill travel to Ellsworth daily to practice with the Eagles.
Meanwhile, GSA graduate Cole Larson Whittaker, a frosh swimmer at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., swims freestyle for Wheaton and has recorded a 10:48 1000 free and a 5:10 500 free during the first semester for Wheaton.
With college teams preparing for the intense training which traditionally accompanies the semester break, three NCAA division 1 50 freestylers recorded remarkably speedy first semester races.
Nathan Adrian, who swims for California, is the only intercollegiate male swimmer to break the 19-second mark in the 50 free finishing in 18.9 in the recent University of Washington Invitational. Meanwhile, two female NCAA division 1 racers have already slid under 22 secoonds in the 50 free. Arizona’s Lara Jackson (21.3) and Anne May (21.9) of the University of California-Santa Barbara both broke the 22-second mark earlier this month.
Former Bangor High swimmer Elizabeth Heinonen is a member of the Bentley College team. A year ago as a freshman the freestyler lettered.
Steven Cartwright, who swam for the Hurricanes, a Bangor-area age group team, before a successful college swimming career, begins his second year as head coach at Georgetown University.
During his two years as head coach, the Georgetown swimmers have set 12 school records and in 2007 recorded the highest team grade point average among swimming teams in the United States. Georgetown competes in the Big East Conference.