Bangor rolls to PVC title Old Town takes 2nd

BANGOR – Candida Carvajal is one of Bangor’s most well-rounded swimmers, but when she looked at the 100-yard breaststroke seedings for Saturday’s Penobscot Valley Conference championship meet, she got a bit of a start to see Ellsworth freshman Meaghan Cucuru’s name next to hers.

“I was pretty nervous,” Carvajal said after the meet at the Husson College pool. “She’s been swimming [in YMCA meets] forever. I looked at the breaststroke and I thought, oh cool, I’m [seeded] first. But then I saw her name.”

At least Carvajal was prepared for what was to come (although the race finish would hold a surprise).

The final outcome of the PVC meet was no shock, however. The big, deep Bangor squad rolled to its fourth straight conference title with 3671/2 points.

Carvajal and freshman Isobel Herbold led the Rams with two individual wins apiece.

There were five second-place lead changes between Old Town, MDI and Foxcroft. The Indians came out ahead, taking the runner-up title with 194 points. The Trojans finished in third with 1841/2 points and the Ponies were fourth (175). Ellsworth was fifth with 85.

Carvajal took the 200 individual medley before going against Cucuru in the breaststroke.

Cucuru had one-tenth of a second on Carvajal at the 50-yard mark and appeared to have just out-touched her at the finish by another tenth of a second. Carvajal saw her place and climbed out of the pool, disappointed.

But she looked at the scoreboard again. Cucuru’s time had a letter “d” (for disqualified) next to it.

It turned out that Cucuru had touched at the finish with one hand (swimmers must touch with two hands in the breaststroke). That gave the race to Carvajal.

“We were neck and neck and I guess she got a little too eager,” Carvajal said of the finish. “I could tell she was right by me and it would come down to who would touch first. I took a last really quick stroke and she went for it with one hand. … I feel like if she had properly finished I would have beaten her anyway.”

Cucuru’s unofficial time was still more than a two-second improvement on her seed time.

There was no such drama for Herbold. She won both the 200 and 500 free with comfortable margins.

“At first I was a little disappointed with my swims,” Herbold said. “I’ve been in a little bit of a slump. But it’s all coming together and I think for states I’ll be ready. I had fun with it today.”

Senior Erin Woolley recorded the other first-place finish for Bangor in the 100 butterfly and was second in the 500 free. The Rams won six of the 12 events, and placed the maximum of four swimmers in each individual event but one.

Juniors Sarah Gordon and Lucy Gross provided key points for the Rams. Gordon was third in the 100 back and fourth in the 50 free; Gross finished fourth in the 100 free and fifth in the 50 free (Whitney Lingenfelter was sixth in that event for a 4, 5, 6 Bangor sweep).

The battle for second place was heated throughout the meet.

The small but strong Foxcroft team was second for several events and had a six-point lead over Old Town after the 100 fly. But in the next event, the 100 free, Old Town and MDI each placed three swimmers in the top seven while the Ponies went 10, 11, 12 to drop them to fourth.

Old Town pulled away from MDI thanks to 1, 4 finishes by Libby Caldwell and Jen Caron in the 100 backstroke. The Indians (with Caldwell swimming the anchor leg) were second in the final event, the 400 free relay, to solidify their lead.

Caldwell, who also won the 100 free, was seeded second in both of her winning events. Her wins were with MDI and Foxcroft so close.

“Being in second makes you try harder,” Caldwell said. “If I was seeded first I don’t think I would have done as well. Our coach [Kari Kimball] was talking about pushing ourselves harder and our captain [Laura Amar-Dolan] was pushing us to try our best.”

OT’s Kiva Hermansen was second in the 100 fly and fifth in the 500 free.

MDI got big swims from Jasmine Marie Peterson. She won the 50 free, touching out Amar-Dolan, tied with Gross in the 100 free, and swam on the winning 200 free relay team with Jamie Garver, Sarah Madeira and Andrea Eaton. Garver picked up second-place finishes in the 100 back and 100 free.

The Foxcroft team set five school records, including a new mark in the 400 relay thanks to huge third and fourth legs by Laura Swett and Rachel Almy, respectively, that gave the Ponies a third-place finish.

“I was really scared because I didn’t want to lose it for our team … we knew that we had a good team this year and we might be able to do well,” said Almy, who was fourth in the 200 and seventh in the 500 free.

Orono’s Maria Millard pulled off a mild upset when she beat two-time defending champion Sammy Hartery of Bangor in the 1-meter diving competition (the Rams went 2, 3, 4, 6 in diving).