BANGOR, Maine — Talor Hamilton of Ellsworth showed how dominating one swimmer can be on Friday night.
But the Bangor High School boys instead demonstrated the value of talent and depth and it helped the Rams secure their seventh consecutive title at the 36th Penobscot Valley Conference Boys Swimming and Diving Championships at Husson University’s Webber Pool.
Coach Phil Emery’s squad, which has won the PVC crown 29 times, received numerous contributions and scored 274.5 points to outdistance runner-up Ellsworth, which tallied 227, and Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor (215).
Old Town took fourth place with 197 points, with John Bapst of Bangor (100), Brewer (69), Orono (66), Hampden Academy (58), George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill (34) and Foxcroft Academy (22) rounding out the top 10.
“All in all, it was a good performance for us,” said Bangor senior Liam Reading. “The depth of this team is really staggering.”
Hamilton set meet records in the 50 freestyle and 100 free and swam on two first-place relays to help Ellsworth earn the runner-up plaque.
“It was a great night. It’s just amazing. I never would have expected to drop time like that. It was just awesome,” he said of his outstanding swims.
Reading spearheaded the Bangor effort by winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:02.30 and placed second in both the 100 butterfly and 200 medley relay. He also anchored the Rams’ runner-up 400 freestyle relay.
“It was definitely a good-quality meet for me,” said Reading, who had four season bests.
It is his aim to help set the tone for Bangor’s large group of 14 freshmen, which represents half the team.
“They’re starting to develop into really fine swimmers at this time of season,” he added. “Hopefully, I set an example and was some sort of inspiration for these swimmers who hopefully will go on to win PVC championships a while down the road.”
Bangor’s other event winners included freshman Colby Prouty in the 200 individual medley (2:02.99) and junior diver Kyle Adams, who piled up 497.25 points.
Sophomore Sam Carlson, who was second in the 200 free and took third in the 500 free, senior Stephen Comeau (4th in both the 50 and 100 free) and Collin MacMillan (3rd in 100 free, 5th in 200 free) were among the top performers for Bangor.
The Rams also received points from Payton Campbell, Toby Jones, Ezra Frost, Takquan Parks and Derek Irish.
“The freshmen have really made tremendous gains,” said Emery, whose team has had its progress hampered of late by the inability to hold practices because of school cancellations and weather issues.
“It’s very difficult for me to figure out what’s going on,” he said of his championship preparation. “We had some good swims and some it’s hard to tell. I don’t read too much into it.”
The individual show-stopper was Hamilton, who departed the building with two PVC meet records and a Webber Pool standard.
Hamilton got into a good early groove, swimming the backstroke leg of the 200 medley relay won by Ellsworth in 1:41.73. He was joined in the victory by Hayden Sattler, Sam Alvarado and Cooper Holmes.
About 45 minutes later, Hamilton put himself in the record books.
The junior used a strong start, during which he covered about half the length of the pool under water, then pulled away from the field to set a meet record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.46.
Hamilton, won won for the second straight year, also is the defending Class B state champion in that event.
“I just came out here and gave it all I’ve got,” he said. “You really have to trust what you’re doing and it paid off this time.”
He did not disappoint as the prohibitive favorite in the 100 free. Hamilton breezed to victory, setting a PVC meet and pool record with a clocking of 24.95 seconds.
The pool mark held by Rocco Aceto had stood since July 29, 1988.
Hamilton’s effort was almost 4 ½ seconds faster than runner-up Jake Ketch of Old Town.
“I beat both my races by about half a second, which is huge for those two races,” Hamilton said. “We really got pumped up on the way here and the fired up cheer really got us going.”
Ellsworth junior Holmes also took home a pair of gold medals. He won the 100 butterfly (54.80) and had more than enough gas in the tank to claim the 100-yard backstroke in 55.70 seconds, 1.6 seconds faster than his seed time.
Other event champions included junior Pierce DiMauro of MDI in the 200 free (1:53.65) and sophomore Sam Alvarado of Ellsworth in the 500 free (4:59.77).
Hamilton was pleased with the efforts of the Eagles against the likes of Bangor and MDI.
“I’m just really proud of these guys. We got second place this year, which is a huge accomplishment, especially with eight guys,” he said.