ORONO, Maine — The Cheverus High School Stags won their fourth consecutive Class A state swimming and diving championship Monday at the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool.
Coach Kevin Haley’s team won five events and scored 339.5 points, followed by Brunswick’s 275 and Bangor’s 207.5. Scarborough finished fourth at 169.5 and Falmouth fifth at 162 in the scoring field of 24 teams.
The win was the Stag’s fifth state swim title. Their first title was won in 1979 while competing in Class B.
“They competed very, very well. They put their minds to it and really swam today,” Haley said.
“It is a good feeling for Cheverus, our team, the families and the community. They make me proud,” he added.
Bangor’s Colby Prouty was voted the Meet’s Outstanding Performer, and Edward Little High won the Maine Principals’ Association’s Sportsmanship Award.
Prouty, a sophomore, set state and meet records in the 100 breaststroke (57.3 seconds). Cheverus’ 200 freestyle relay established a meet record as Jacob Griffin (22.3), Kevin Kane (22.1), Michael O’Donovan (22.3) and Shane Moore (21.4) finished in 1:28.2.
In the meet’s opening event, an electric breaststroke leg in the 200 medley relay from Prouty (25.6) pushed the Rams from fifth into a two-second lead at the 100, propelling the Rams to a 1:41.8 win, nearly three seconds ahead of Brunswick, a 1:44.52 finisher. Payton Campbell (25.2) and Collin MacMillan (23.1) swam the butterfly and freestyle legs, respectively, after sophomore Derek Irish contributed a 27.4 backstroke split for BHS. Cheverus was third at 1:44.56.
Cheverus’ freestyle quality presented itself in the 200 freestyle as the Stags scored 37 points in the event led by O’Donovan’s 1:43.5 win. The senior, who turned at 49.8 after four lengths to lead the field by two seconds, stretched his lead over the remaining 100 yards to win by five seconds. Connor Perron claimed silver at 1:48.6.
Phineas Underwood, Cheverus’ second scorer in the event, lowered his seed time by five seconds to collect eighth at 2:00, and teammate Jeremy Baker added points at 2:02.
The Stags reached the 100-point total after three events to take a 25-point lead over Bangor when Kevin Kane (2:00.9) and Ben Tompkins (2:11.3) combined for 31 points in the 200 individual medley placing third and fourth, respectively.
Prouty continued his sizzling swimming with a 1:56.9 gold, four seconds faster than his seed entry. Turning in third place after the backstroke leg, the sophomore stroked a 31.9 on the breaststroke leg to outclass the field by two seconds and then followed with a 28.9 freestyle. Matt Charest of Lewiston finished second at 1:58.3.
Similarly in the 50 free, the Cheverus freestylers continued to harvest points scoring three swimmers highlighted by Shane Moore’s 22.1 (third place) and Jacob Griffin’s 22.2 (fourth). Gustav Anderson finished in a tie at 23.9 for 12th.
Brunswick senior Nate Samson tied the meet record set in 2013 by Cape Elizabeth’s Evan Long with his first-place finish of 21.4. However, the Dragons totaled 53 points with fifth, eighth and ninth finishers behind Samson and then claimed 16 points with Chris Roderick’s third-place finish in the diving to narrow the Stags lead over Brunswick to 13 points, 135.5 to 122.
Bangor’s Kyle Adams displayed his talent, winning the 11-dive competition by a 98-point margin, totaling 449.65 points. Bucksport’s Anthony Wardwell scored second.
While Samson won his second event for Brunswick with a 51 second butterfly, the Stags continued to gather medals and points finishing second, third and 11th to extend their lead to 20 points, 174.5 to 154.
Shane Moore collected the Stags’ second win in the 12-event competition at 47.1 in the 100 free. O’Donovan collected his second individual gold by winning the 500 free at 4:41.7. Perron notched second (4:48.1), and Bangor’s Sam Carlson got third (5:09).
The Stags assembled their talented freestylers in the 200 free relay and sped to a meet record of 1:28.2. The previous record of 1:29.08 was set in 2000 by Bangor High.
Josh Labrecque gave coach Peter Small’s Windham squad first-place points in the 100 backstroke with a 56.0 finish. This year’s Maine Principals’ Association’s championship meets were dedicated to Small in a ceremony before the start of the championship.
Prouty took control of the breaststroke off the start to lead by a second and a half at the 50 (26.4) on his way to the record swim. Deering’s Eric Delmonte held the previous record of 57.6.
Cheverus entered the final event with a 299.5 points, 57.5 points ahead of Brunswick. The Stags’ freestylers continued their impressive swimming with three swimmers recording sub 50-second splits led by O’Donovan’s 48.9 to win the 400 free relay in 3:19.3.
Samson, in the leadoff leg for Brunswick, raced an impressive 46.2 to give the Dragons a three-second lead before the Stags freestyle quality and depth prevailed.