MDI claims first state swim championship Swimmer of Meet Frosty Pepper leads Trojans

BRUNSWICK – On paper the Mount Desert Island boys swim team had a huge advantage going into Monday’s Class B state championship meet.

In the pool, however, several other teams made sure it wasn’t going to be that easy for the Trojans to win their first state title. But MDI’s combination of depth and front-line talent helped the Trojans score 279 points and pick up their first boys state swimming crown in Monday’s championship meet at Bowdoin College’s Greason Pool.

“This is awesome,” said MDI senior Frosty Pepper, who was named the Swimmer of the Meet. “This is what you work four years for.”

Old Town, which won last year’s state title in the final relay, stayed close to coach Tony DeMuro’s MDI squad for the entire meet, but couldn’t overcome the Trojans. The Indians put up 233 points to finish in second place.

Greely of Cumberland Center came in third with 176 points and John Bapst of Bangor finished fourth with 119. Ellsworth was fifth with 116. Five teams from the Penobscot Valley Conference finished in the top 10.

Old Town opened the meet by holding off MDI in the medley relay thanks in part to strong final two legs from seniors Nick Noonan (butterfly) and Nick Perkins (freestyle). Sophomores Jacob Shanley (backstroke) and Gerald Herlihy (breaststroke) gave the Indians a lead in the first two legs.

The Indians continued to lead as Herlihy and Noonan finished third and fifth, respectively, in the 200 freestyle final, while Shanley and Dan Thorton went 2-7 in the 200 individual medley.

“We were really worried,” Pepper said. “We beat Old Town pretty soundly in PVCs and they came back and put it to us pretty good this morning. We were scared, definitely.”

MDI grabbed hold of a 30-point swing in the 50 free, where brothers Frosty Pepper and Sargent Pepper went 1-3 and Henry Warden came in 11th, to take a 23-point lead. Old Town didn’t have anyone in that event.

But the Indians placed four divers in the top 10 (Tyson O’Keefe finished fourth) where the Trojans had just one – and all of the sudden Old Town took a three-point edge. Old Town stretched it out after the 100 butterfly as Nick Perkins, seeded fifth, came from an outside lane to win the event (56.83). Thorton was eighth.

“Nick’s a beast,” said Old Town classmate Nick Noonan. “That’s all I have to say.”

The Indians and the Trojans were tied at 143 points apiece after the Pepper brothers went 1-3 in the 100 free (Frosty won it with a 50.44).

The 500 free was a huge turning point for the Trojans. Kevin Staples outsprinted Herlihy in the final 50 yards to win that event in 5:10.67, Carbone picked up third place, moving up from his No. 4 seed, and the Trojans placed eighth and 10th to give MDI a 19-point lead.

“He was with me all the race and he gave me a good race,” Staples said. “I just gave it all I had in the last 75 [yards] and hoped it would be enough. It was, so it’s lucky for me, I guess.”

MDI won the 200 free relay with a time of 1:33.80 to extend the edge to 31 points and rolled from there. The Trojans also won the 400 free relay.

The Indians got top-notch swims from their front-liners, but the key for Old Town was fine swims in the morning preliminary heats. Several swimmers who moved up from consolation seeding to the championship final, or from a lower seeding into the consolation. Nick Noonan, seeded seventh in the 200 free, finished fifth overall. He did it again in the 100 free, finishing in fourth place despite a ninth-place seed. Robert Vayda was tabbed at 14th in the 200 IM but came in 11th. And Jeffrey Dow, ranked 13th in the 200, finished ninth overall.

“Coming into this meet they were ahead by like 130 points, and they won by 40,” Noonan said. “I think that says a lot about how we swam. We had so many great swims and best times. No one on this team should be down on second place.”

Ellsworth got wins from senior Matt Jordan in the individual medley (2:01.59) and 100 back (55.29).

Orono’s Mo Nazmy was second in the 100 fly and in the later won the 100 breaststroke (1:02.51).

The independent swimmers fared quite well, too. Trevor Renwick, a Sumner of East Sullivan senior who swims with the MDI team, earned a win in the 200 free (1:50.91) and finished second in the 100 free. Bangor Christian’s Shane Murphy, who swims with John Bapst, was the 10th seed in the consolation final but managed to win the heat.