Kate Kovenock caps perfect career McAuley edges OT for crown

ORONO – Kate Kovenock capped off a perfect individual high school career with a record-shattering final performance at the state Class B girls swimming championships at Wallace Pool here Monday night.

The Orono High School senior, undefeated throughout her career in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events, won individual state titles in the 100 for the fourth time and in the 50 for the third straight year.

She also set new state and meet records in both events while winning Swimmer of the Meet honors for the fourth consecutive year.

“Records were on my mind, but I was looking more at personal goals today,” said Kovenock, who will attend Connecticut College in the fall. “I didn’t quite reach them, but I was happy with my times and I felt good in the water.”

Catherine McAuley High School of Portland, in just its seventh year of competitive swimming, used a pair of individual-event titles and a victory in the meet’s final relay event to edge Old Town and win its first-ever team title. The Lions finished with 203 points, compared with 188 for Old Town.

“On paper, coming into the meet we were 44 points behind McAuley,” said Old Town coach Tim Lecrone, whose team also earned the meet’s Sportsmanship Award. “But every swimmer went out and swam their best times in their events.

Greely of Cumberland Center, the state champion in 1999 and 2000, finished third in the team standings with 148 points, while Mount Desert Island (102) placed fourth.

Kovenock served notice that this would be a special final high school meet for her with preliminary times in both the 50 and 100 that were more than a second faster than her nearest competitor. Her 53.18 prelim clocking in the 100 freestyle also bested the previous state and meet records – the old meet record time of 53.84 was set by her sister, Sarah, in 1996.

But clearly she had saved some energy for the finals.

In the 50, she steadily pulled away from the field – and from the record book – to win in 24.11 seconds, a time that eclipsed the state record of 24.31 set by Brunswick’s Katrine Alcaide in 1998 and the meet record of 24.41 set by Eleanor Thoet of Morse in 1996.

In the 100, Kovenock merely slashed another 0.47 second off the new mark she established in the preliminary, clocking a 52.71 to best second-place Rebecca Stein of Camden Hills by more than two seconds.

“Kate has a work ethic that is second to none, and she has a confidence that is quiet, but you know it’s there,” said Orono coach Gary Theriault. “She’s a strong competitor, she loves to race.”

Senior Emily Ney of Kennebunk set the only other meet record, winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.60.

McAuley entered the meet as the clear favorite in the team competition, but had to shake off a spirited performance by Old Town.

The Indians set their challenge in motion by winning the meet’s opening event, as a strong anchor leg by junior Laura Amar-Dolan helped Old Town win the 200-yard medley relay with a winning time of 1:58.47. Other members of that winning tandem were freshman Elizabeth Caldwell, senior Kathryn Laverdiere and sophomore Kiva Hermansen.

Old Town went on to win two of the meet’s three relay events, as Laverdiere anchored Caldwell, Katherine Fournier and Janai Bernholz to victory in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:46.71, 0.13 seconds ahead of second-place McAuley

But McAuley, with 12 swimmers qualified for the state meet, scored points in every event except the diving competition. In addition, the Lions got victories from sophomore Ashley Berlin in the 100 butterfly and freshman Kary Goodman in the 500 freestyle. Goodman won that event by 25 seconds over her nearest competitor in 5:18.26, two-one-hundredths of a second off the meet record.

McAuley held just a seven-point lead entering the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, but the combination of Goodman, Amanda Good, Kaitlin Kelley and Sara Glidden raced to a seven-second win over Greely to clinch the team championship. Old Town placed third.

“Our girls all went out and did just what we needed them to do,” said McAuley coach Steve James. “They’ve been strong all year, and the girls finished strong.”