September 22, 2024
Sports

Maine’s swim hall inducts Solorzano

Betty Solorzano of Bangor, a longtime swimming official, Red Cross water safety instructor and instructor at YMCA, YWCA and Girl Scout camps, was inducted into the Maine Swimming Hall of Fame Sunday.

Solorzano joined Maureen Berube and Pete Foley in this year’s induction class.

Solorzano was a Red Cross instructor for more than 50 years. She taught local boys and girls to swim and also trained young people to become swimming instructors.

She has been an active swimming official since 1968 and served as an official at every high school and YMCA state swimming meet from 1968 to 1993.

Solorzano was also waterfront director at Girl Scout camps in Maine and Massachusetts and served as a lifeguard in the Bangor Recreation Department.

Berube was a standout swimmer for Edward Little High School in Auburn. She never lost a dual meet race in her four-year career with the Red Eddies and was a state champion all four years. Berube was the first Maine schoolgirl to go under two minutes in the 200-yard freestyle (1:57) and still holds Edward Little records in freestyle events. She was also the first Maine girl to place at the YMCA nationals and was a Maine and New England YMCA champion.

Foley is in his 32 year as the head swimming coach at Weston High School in Massachusetts but got his start as a standout at Cheverus High in Portland. He went to Kent State on a swimming scholarship and was an All-Mid America Conference selection.

The Weston boys teams are 448-36-1 in dual meets and the girls are 70-2-1. The boys have won 15 Massachusetts state titles. Foley was inducted into the Massachusetts Swimming Hall of Fame in 1996.

There are 16 people in the Maine Swimming Hall of Fame, including former Bangor High diving standout Kevin Wright and longtime swimming official and Bangor YMCA coach Norm Palmer.


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