Bangor’s depth beats Old Town

BANGOR – As friendly rivalries go, all was cordial. Then it came time to climb into the blocks and let the business at hand begin.

The Bangor boys proved to be very good at their profession as they won all but two events in a 114-72 high school swimming victory over the Old Town Indians at the Husson College pool Friday night.

Bangor’s depth proved the difference as the Rams finished with three scoring places in seven of the 12 events.

“We’re still peaking for the state meet and this was kind of a nice wake-up call,” Old Town coach Dave Ploch said. “And those guys were ready, they swam a great meet.”

But it was Old Town’s Russian exchange student, Vladimir “Vova” Kontratenok, who pushed the Rams’ best to the limit.

After chasing down the Rams’ 200-medley relay team of Chris Falk, Vi Thai, Matt Cook and Eric York which finished with a 1 minute, 44.38-second performance in the opening event, Kontratenok led Bangor sophomore Mike Reid through the first two splits of a very tight 200 freestyle.

But the back-to-back races tired the junior out, allowing Reid to shave nearly three seconds off his personal best for a 1:52.87 victory.

“Before the race, he had me really worried because I know him,” said Reid, who lived with Kontratenok for a few weeks in Syktyvkar, Russia, this summer. “He had me really scared behind the blocks, and he had me really scared the entire race but I was fortunate that he was tired because he did the relay right before but it was a good race.”

“I’ve never really swum against him before head-to-head, and that’s why I was real nervous,” Reid said. “But after the 200, I really wanted to go against him in the 500 but he didn’t go.

Reid also won the 500 freestyle with a 5:08.74 time and swam the anchor leg for Bangor’s 200 freestyle relay – made up of Rob Ervin, Devin Cough and Jeremy Walsh – and finished in 1:36.21.

“He’s probably had one of the best seasons training of any kid on the team,” Bangor coach Phil Emery said. “He’s got a great aerobic system and he just comes in and he just challenges himself in every workout.”

Kontratenok wasn’t done chasing Bangor’s best. The junior’s best race came in the 100 freestyle, where Rams’ senior tri-captain Cook awaited the inevitable.

“I never knew what Vova was swimming, and Mike Reid and I weren’t sure if he was going in the 100 or 500,” Cook said. “Anything he swims, he’s always competitive and we were really ready. Mike and I were talking before and we said, whatever he goes in, we’re going to win, and we just set our minds on winning.”

Cook led Kontratenok by three-tenths of a second through the first split, but began to tire heading into the final turn in the 25-meter pool, before beating him by six-hundredths of a second in 49.78 seconds.

“The way I swim the 100, I go out as fast as I can and hold it for as long as I can and that’s pretty much all you can do,” Cook said. “I think I went in a little bit ahead of him into the last turn.

“I started dying, and I kind of did an extra kick and push and did whatever I could to get into the wall,” Cook said. “I guess it worked.”

Cook and Reid teamed up with York and Falk again to win the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:29.88 in the meet’s final event.

Old Town’s Zach Gasway and Josh Lizzotte prevented the Class B state champions from being swept away in the Bangor tsunami with their wins in the 100 breaststroke and one-meter diving, respectively.

Gasway pushed past Thai in less than a second at 1:05.41, and Lizzotte swept past the six-man diving field, beating out second-place Mark Manowski of Bangor 206.2-180.1.