Bangor uses depth to beat Old Town Rams win seven events, Indians take five

OLD TOWN – Exciting races, close finishes … and a 34-point difference in the end.

Welcome to Thursday night’s Old Town-Bangor girls swim meet, in which the top swimmers for the Rams and Indians battled in lanes three and four, while Bangor’s swimmers in the outside lanes provided the depth in points the Rams would need for a 110-76 victory at the high school pool.

Bangor took first place in seven events and Old Town grabbed the other five races, but the difference came in the outside lanes, where the Rams picked up thirds and fourths, or went 2-3 in some events, to build a strong cushion of points.

The Rams have 28 more swimmers on their roster than the Indians, but Bangor was wary of Old Town’s top competitors.

“Everybody was really nervous going into this meet,” Bangor senior Erin Woolley said. “We anticipated it to be a lot closer. It’s kind of a relief to be coming off this meet. Everyone swam really well, so we’re pleased with it.”

Bangor and Old Town provided exciting races in all three relays, with just a body length or so between first and second.

The meet started off with the 200-yard medley relay, which turned out to be the closest event of the evening. Old Town’s Heather Surette held off Whitney Lingenfelter of Bangor in the final leg of the relay (Surette touched in at 2:04.78; Lingenfelter finished in 2:05.11).

Old Town also got a big win in the 200 free relay. The Indians had a slight lead at the start of the third leg, which was swum by Laura Amar-Dolan. Amar-Dolan knew she had to build a lead for anchor Janai Bernholz: Bangor’s Candida Carvajal was to swim the Rams’ anchor and Bernholz had competed in the 500 free.

Amar-Dolan made the difference, giving Bernholz enough of a cushion to hold off Caravajal (despite the Bangor junior’s huge turn at the wall).

“Janai had just finished [the 500] and I thought, well, give her a lead, and she can take that. Candida is fast so we had to pick it up,” said Amar-Dolan, who had a season-best time to go with her second-place finish in the 200 free, and was under one minute in the 100 free, which she usually doesn’t do until she begins her taper for states.

Bangor freshman Isobel Herbold helped the Rams rally in the 400 free relay. Bernholz, Amar-Dolan and Jen Caron built an Old Town lead through three legs until Herbold churned past Libby Caldwell in the final leg.

Baldacci, Woolley and Sarah Gordon swam the first three legs of the winning distance relay.

Herbold had another fine meet with wins in the 200 and 500 freestyles. Woolley, one of the top distance swimmers in the state, stayed with Herbold in the 500 until the freshman pulled away with 175 yards to go.

“It was a good time for me so I was pleased with it,” said Woolley, who hadn’t been swimming the 500 as often early in the season for some variety. “Now that we’re getting closer to states I’m concentrating more on that and it’s great to have someone to swim with.”

Bangor’s Katie Reynolds broke the 1:20 mark with her win in the 100 breaststroke. Gordon won the 200 individual medley and Carvajal took the 50 free.

Old Town’s Caldwell had some of the easier wins Thursday in the 100 free and 100 backstroke, but in both cases had to pull away near the end of the race (Carvajal chased her in the free; Gordon was a threat in the backstroke).

Kiva Hermansen pulled away from Bangor’s Kate Baldacci at the 50-yard mark to win the 100 butterfly for the Indians.

“We were really happy with our times,” said Amar-Dolan, who was the Indians’ lone honoree on Thursday’s Senior Night. “We’ve been training really hard and we haven’t had as much rest as usual, but our times overall good.”

Competition on the one-meter diving board was held Thursday afternoon at the University of Maine pool in Orono, where Bangor’s Samantha Hartery racked up 196.80 points for the win.