BRUNSWICK – For the first time in six years, Bangor High swimming coach Phil Emery didn’t take an underwater victory lap after Tuesday’s Class A state championship meet. Instead, he stood on the pool deck and listened as Westbrook coach Rob Card talked to him.

“I’ve been around this for a long time,” Card told Emery, “and I’ve never seen a better job of coaching.”

That’s because the Rams, who were hoping for a fourth-place finish, who were actually seeded fifth and who had just one front-line star, finished as the runners-up. Considering Bangor’s personnel, the second-place finish was nearly as satisfying as any of the five straight state titles the Rams had won before Deering snapped the streak in Tuesday’s meet at Bowdoin College’s Greason Pool.

Deering of Portland won eight events, including two relays, to rack up 271 points en route to the program’s first state crown. Bangor, whose win in the final event of the meet lifted the team to second place, scored 196 points, edging Cape Elizabeth (193).

Cheverus of Portland was fourth with 175 points and Morse of Bath finished fifth with a 134. Brewer was 10th with 40 points and the Witches, who stayed to watch the entire meet even after their swimmers and diver were finished, won the sportsmanship award.

Deering is the first team other than Bangor or Cape Elizabeth to win the Class A title since Greely of Cumberland Center did it in 1985.

Emery said Bangor now has four runner-up titles to go with its 21 state crowns.

Although Deering got two wins apiece from Jimmy Hughes (200-yard free and 500 free) and Kyle Johnson (100 backstroke, 100 butterfly), Bangor senior Eric Palmer was named Performer of the Meet.

Palmer had a personal-best time of 1 minute, 59.05 seconds in the 200 individual medley and became the second Bangor swimmer ever to go under two minutes in the event. He also won the 100 breaststroke with a 1:01.05, swam the breaststroke on the third-place medley relay and anchored Bangor’s 400 free relay to a huge win.

“The adrenaline was just going and it was one of those things where it was my last high school meet and why not go all out,” Palmer said of his IM time. “… [Swimmer of the Meet] took me by surprise, but I really have to thank coach Emery. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for him.”

Palmer was especially key in the 400 free relay.

Bangor needed a win in that race, the final event of the meet, in order to grab second place from the Capers and Cape had to finish third. Although the Rams had the top seed, Deering loomed in the next lane. Chris Goldsmith led off for Bangor and both he and Mike Rubin gave the squad a lead going into the third leg, where Kyle Johnson caught Bangor’s John Quinn. But Palmer outdistanced Deering’s Jesse Johnson in the anchor leg for a win in 3:27.91.

“What I told them was real simple,” Emery said. “I told them we had to win and we had to get the most we can out of each person. And three of the four [relay] times were best times.”

Emery had tallied up the meet last week based on the preliminary seeds and came up with a fifth-place finish for Bangor. That meant the Rams would need a lot of lower-seeded swimmers to make it into Tuesday’s consolation and championship finals, and that’s just what happened. Emery rescored the meet after the morning heats and had Bangor finishing second to Deering.

Bangor senior Chris Goldsmith had an excellent meet, especially in the 50 free. Goldsmith had the eighth seed going into that event, won a swim-off for the final spot in the championship final, and wound up sixth.

“[Emery] left me alone,” Goldsmith said of the moments before the swim-off. “I guess he just wanted me to focus on everything. I had a feeling I was going to win. I wasn’t nervous but I knew I had to do it. The difference between sixth place and seventh place is a lot.”

Rubin got into the 200 free championship after being seeded seventh and wound up sixth. Erik Lenz, who was seeded 13th in the IM, finished 11th. The Rams did well in the 500 free as John Quinn won the consolation heat and Rubin was sixth overall. Josh Buck was second in the diving and Scott King jumped from the 14th seed in the 50 free to eighth overall. And Joey Rice, the 13th seed in the 100 fly, finished eighth.

Bangor battled with Cape all afternoon and finally closed to within seven points of the Capers after Palmer’s breaststroke win (Shane White went from the 16th seed to 10th overall to help gain points in that event).

“We don’t have the depth we’ve had [in the past five years] but we made do,” Goldsmith said. “A lot of those guys came from nowhere and they really helped us out.”

Brewer got stellar performances from seniors Mike Sighinolfi and Jason Littlefield.

Littlefield became the second Brewer diver in a row to win the state title in that event (Chris Rodway won it last year). Littlefield scored 263.15 points, edging Buck by just 3.8 points. Sighinolfi was second in the 200 free and sliced about four seconds from his seed time. He also fourth in the 100 fly.

“[The score] was kind of a shock,” said Littlefield, who almost broke 400 at last week’s PVC championships, “but other than that I was happy with it. It was close, but that’s good. … Mike had a really good meet. He’s been awesome this year.”