Swimming championships set Bangor girls, MDI boys expected to contend for state crowns

The two Penobscot Valley Conference champions will be among their favorites in their respective classifications when this year’s state swimming championships get under way this weekend and early next week.

The Mount Desert Island boys will be trying for their first Class B state title Monday, while the Bangor girls will try to better their runner-up finish from last year.

The championship slate kicks off Saturday with the Class A boys meet at the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool. Preliminary heats start at 10 a.m. with the finals at 5 p.m. Divers will complete the first eight of 11 rounds of competition during the break.

The meets continue Monday as the Class A girls will swim at Wallace Pool, while the Class B boys have their meet at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. The Class B girls will compete Tuesday at Bowdoin.

The time trials for the Class A girls will start at noon with the finals at 6 p.m. The two Class B meets will start with time trials at 10 a.m. and finals at 7 p.m.

The top 12 times from the morning heats will return to swim in the evening. Those swimmers will be re-seeded into consolation and championship finals. Each team can score up to four places per event.

The MDI boys have the potential for a big win in Monday’s Class B meet. The Trojans are seeded first in all three relays, have four swimmers seeded in the top 12 in the 200-yard individual medley and 500 freestyle, and have three more top-12 seeds in three other events.

Senior Frosty Pepper is seeded first in the 50 free and second in the 100 free. Matt St. Germain, Henry Warden, Kevin Staples, Justin Garver, Sargent Pepper, Randy Walls, Frank Carbone and Ben Muir should also contribute major points.

Ellsworth, defending champ Old Town, Orono, John Bapst and Belfast should also contend for top-five team finishes.

The Bangor girls, who will likely contend with two-time defending champ Cape Elizabeth, Cheverus of Portland, 2003 Class B champ Scarborough and Deering of Portland, have three relays ranked in the top five.

Bangor’s Cammi Howard has the third seed in the 200 IM and the 100 fly, while Chandra Lippitt is the top diver going into the meet. Sisters Kayle and Mara Shapero, and Isobel and Lily Herbold, along with Stephanie Palmer, Gabby Babin and Erica Simpson, will also contribute for the Rams.

Brewer’s Kallie Pottle is the fifth seed in the fly and the third seed in the backstroke.

With Scarborough out of the Class B ranks, the Falmouth and McAuley of Portland girls are among the top teams in that classification. MDI has three relays in the top four, in addition to Iris Meehan’s No. 2 ranking in the 200 free and No. 4 ranking in the backstroke. Amanda Mason of Dexter has the fastest 500 free time.

Deering, the 2003 champion, along with Cheverus, Morse of Bath, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth, are among the top Class A boys teams. Bangor, the runner-up last year, along with Brewer and Hampden, are each sending boys to compete. Bangor’s Josh Buck was the diving runner-up last year.