BANGOR – Swimming coaches always like to kick off meets with a win in the 200-yard medley relay to set the tone for the competition. Senior captain Scott King helped the Bangor boys do just that in Friday’s meet against Belfast.

King anchored a come-from-behind win in that event against three of the top Class B swimmers in the state, sparking Bangor’s 117-68 win at the Husson College pool.

Belfast, the defending Class B state champion, had a tough group of front-line swimmers, but the Class A champion Rams had too many second- and third-place finishers for the Lions to overcome.

King’s anchor leg on the opening event of the meet provided the Rams with a big boost.

Matt Hurley gave Belfast a big lead in the first leg of the relay and the Lions had about 11/2 seconds on the Rams when King entered the pool. He took the lead in the final 25 yards and out-touched Belfast by almost five-tenths of a second.

“It’s a real adrenaline rush when you dive into the pool and start swimming like that,” King said. “We’re really coming together with our relay starts. At the beginning of the season we had some false starts but coach [Phil Emery] told us we’re doing much better.”

Bangor senior Eric Palmer was the big point-earner for the Rams. Palmer swam on the winning 200 medley relay with King, Joey Rice and Joe Litwack. Palmer also won the 200 individual medley with a fine 2:06.34, the 100 breaststroke (1:03.72), and anchored a winning 400 free relay.

Chris Goldsmith, John Quinn and Mike Rubin rounded out that relay. Goldsmith, King, Quinn and Rubin teamed up to take the 200 free relay.

Rubin added a win in the 200 free with a time of 2:01.91, while Rice cruised in the 100 back with a 1:04.28.

Belfast won four straight events at one point, but Bangor took second and third in each race except the diving, in which the Rams were second and fourth.

“We tried to put people where we could get some points,” Hurley said. “It didn’t work very well, but everyone swam excellent times.”

Jon Holmes started Belfast’s winning streak when he took the 50 free (24.79). Diver Ned O’Connor continued the run, edging Bangor’s Josh Buck with a 144.85. Hurley cruised in the 100 butterfly (1:00.35). Holmes came back and won the 100 free in 54.29, and then Hurley provided a bit of excitement in the 500 free.

Hurley let Quinn and Rubin take early leads. All the while, Hurley stayed just behind the two Bangor swimmers.

With about 50 yards left Hurley made his move, getting past Quinn in the final length for the win.

“I planned it that way, but it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be,” Hurley said.

There was good news for Bangor in Quinn’s second- place finish as he dropped 10 seconds from his previous best. Rubin dropped five seconds.

“[Hurley] was a perfect rabbit,” Emery said. “When Hurley took off, John took off.”