Ellsworth High School raced to a time of 3 minutes, 21.6 seconds in the 400-yard freestyle relay on Friday night to capture the Penobscot Valley Conference Boys Swimming and Diving Championship on Friday night at the University of Maine’s Stanley Wallace Pool in Orono.
Ellsworth finished with 269 points to edge Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor by a single point. Bangor wound up third with 203. Old Town (135) and Hampden Academy (109) rounded out the top five teams, followed by Orono (76), George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill (42), Brewer (36), Washington Academy of East Machias (32) and John Bapst of Bangor (29).
Sean Hill, Austin Baron, Richie Matthews and Camden Holmes made up the victorious relay quartet for Ellsworth. MDI took second place in the 400 free relay.
Colby Prouty of Bangor was named the Performer of the Meet after setting a meet record in the 100 breaststroke and winning the 200 freestyle.
Friday’s meet, contested by swimmers and divers from 18 schools, was dedicated to longtime John Bapst coach Gary Isherwood, who died in March 2017.
Ellsworth claimed the 200 medley relay in 1:41.8 as Camden Holmes anchored the victory over runner-up Bangor (1:44.8).
Prouty of Bangor took the 200 freestyle in 1:47.3, edging top seed Liam Sullivan of Mount Desert Island. Prouty’s 26.1-second split on the third 50 helped him take control of the race.
University of Maine-bound Orono standout Kellen Doyle won the 200 individual medley in 2:06.3, taking a comfortable win over Ellsworth junior Sam Pelleter (2:10.4).
Holmes bounced back to take top honors in the 50 free, clocking a 21.53 to edge Bangor’s Carson Prouty (21.82).
Bucksport senior Anthony Wardwell won the individual title in the diving, scoring 431.7 points for the 11-dive program.
MDI’s Sullivan split 28.1 seconds over the second half of the race to edge Holmes of Ellsworth, who led at the halfway mark, in the 100 butterfly. Sullivan stopped the timer in 54.1 and Holmes finished in 54.31.
In the 100 free, Steve Johnston of Hermon took home top honors with a victory in 49.1 seconds. Ellsworth’s Baron (50.9) was the runner-up.
Carson Prouty of Bangor demonstrated his distance acumen in winning the 500 freestyle. His time of 4:52.6 easily beat runner-up Hill of Ellsworth (5:14).
That result helped Ellsworth turn a two-point deficit into a two-point lead over MDI.
However, the Trojans regained the upper hand n by winning the 200 free relay. Isaac Weaver, Jacob Mitchell, Sam Mitchell and Sullivan combined to clock a 1:34.9 good for a 2.7-second win over Ellsworth and a four-point edge in the team scoring.
Colby Prouty of Bangor established a PVC meet record in the 100 breaststroke by turning in a time of 56.65 seconds. Ellsworth’s Richie Matthews took second, but MDI’s team lead was four points with one event to go.