OLD TOWN – It’s a good thing Julia Macauley’s false start came during the warm-up for Thursday evening’s meets between the Old Town and Mount Desert Island boys and girls swimming teams.

Mount Desert Island coach Tony DeMuro’s good-natured punishment for her false start before the meet? Five pushups in front of the teams and spectators gathered at the Old Town High pool.

Who knows what would have happened if Macauley had false-started during the meet, because the Trojans certainly couldn’t afford to lose many points to the Indians.

Although the false start made her a bit nervous early, she shook off her nerves and the freshman showed a lot of poise. Macauley won two individual events, led off a winning relay, and swam a key leg of another relay to power the Trojans to 94 points and a win over the Indians.

The Old Town girls kept it close, however, and scored 85 points.

The MDI boys easily defeated Old Town 122-53, although the Indians were missing several swimmers due to illness and vacation.

Macauley said the Trojans weren’t feeling any pressure to win the meet – this time of year coaches tend to care more about time drops than how many points a team can score – but MDI sure looked like it was gunning for some wins.

And the Trojans needed Macauley, who shook off the false start.

“That was a little scary because I thought that maybe it would happen during the meet,” she said. “But I just kind of forgot about it, so it was OK.”

Macauley’s blazing 31.42 backstroke split in the 200 medley relay helped the Trojans hold off the Indians in the first event of the meet. In the final event, she helped the Trojans come from behind in the 400 free relay, swimming the third leg and finishing what second-leg swimmer Chelsea White started in rallying MDI past Old Town.

In between, Macauley easily won the 200 and 500 freestyle events.

“Old Town put up a lot of good races,” Macauley said. “This is the perfect team for us to swim now because they have a lot of really strong swimmers. I had to start picking up my pace in a lot of races.”

Junior standout Iris Meehan did all her swimming in the second half of the meet. She won the 100 fly, which is the first event after the traditional break after the 50 free, then swam a leg of the 200 free relay, rolled in the 100 back, and anchored the 400 free relay.

White contributed wins in the 50 and 100 free and swam on both free relays.

Old Town got wins from Kate Noonan in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke, holding off MDI’s Amy Harrison for the victory. Tuesday Philbrook won the diving.

But the Indians’ depth in several events – although Macauley won the 500 free for six points, Old Town racked up nine points with a second, a third and a fourth – made them dangerous. The Indians had a 32-30 lead after the 50 free.

“We were right in there all the way until about the 100 backstroke,” Old Town girls coach Krystal Fogler said. “It was extremely close. I was pleased because it was attainable for us to win and we came out and did a great job.”

In the boys meet, the Trojans were eager to swim the Indians but absent swimmers such as standout Jacob Shanley made it tougher for Old Town to score points.

“We’re just trying to get everyone qualified for states and swimming as hard as they can,” MDI’s Frank Carbone said. “This is a big dual meet for us for this time of the year. They were missing some guys, and with them back I think it’ll be a lot closer at states.”

So the Trojans had to be content to swim against each other, which is just what Kevin Staples and Carbone did in the 500 free. Although Staples got off to a strong start in the event, Carbone eventually edged him by almost two seconds.

“We have kind of a friendly rivalry, trying to one-up each other as we bring our times down,” said Carbone, who finished second to Staples in the 200.

Carbone, Staples, Josh Radford, Eric Eaton and Justin Gilmartin were the major point-scorers for the Trojans. Eaton won the IM and the breaststroke, Radford took the 50 free and back, and Gilmartin won the 100 fly. Sam Burne, Aaron Rourk and Reid Swanson helped on all three winning relays.

Old Town coach Zach Gasaway was pleased with several of his swimmers, including Gerald Herlihy, who won the 100 free and took second in the 50 free. Things would have been a lot more interesting, however, with Shanley competing. He scored in four events in the 2004 Class B state meet.

“He’s kind of a guy who can win, and we can jump on his back and he can carry us,” Gasaway said.

Matt Jones also won the diving for Old Town.