For the past 17 years, Hampden Academy students who wanted to participate in high school swimming or diving have made their way to the Brewer High team, where they found a home alongside coach Kathy Cahill’s Witches.

Students from the two schools blended together so that in practices, and sometimes during meets, it’s hard to tell who’s from which school. The Hampden athletes chose to wear Brewer colors. The student-athletes became friends. And the teams became sort of one.

But the Hampden program may have become a victim of its own popularity. The growth of the program means the Broncos can no longer compete alongside Brewer, which was considered a cooperative team in the arrangement. Students from the two schools will likely be competing as one for the last time this weekend at the Penobscot Valley Conference boys and girls championships.

This year, the Maine Principals’ Association informed Hampden that its 12 students now competing as individuals are too many to swim with a cooperative team, and the school must form its own team. In response, the Hampden swimmers and athletic director David Shapiro have come up with a proposal for a new team. The SAD 22 athletic committee recently took the proposal to the full school board for consideration in next year’s budget.

Cahill’s goal, she said recently, was always to get the Hampden program running on its own. But now that that time has come, the Broncos are torn about leaving. They’re worried about finding pool time. And they don’t want to leave the only high school team and coach they’ve known.

“We all want it to happen, but it’s hard because we love what we have here so much and we know the first few years are going to be rough in developing a program,” said Hampden junior Marggi Jadkowski, who has been one of the most outspoken Bronco swimmers.

“We’re kind of reluctant to leave,” she added. “I think everyone is kind of torn between the two.”

Positive experiences

On a recent winter evening, the scene at the Bangor YWCA’s Aloupis Pool, Brewer’s home pool, looked more like a beach party than swimming practice. The boys and girls paraded around the pool deck in outlandish bathing suits, oversize sunglasses, and colorful leis.

Cahill stood at one corner of the pool, taping the event – Brewer’s annual beach party and swim-a-thon – on a video recorder.

There are 12 Hampden swimmers in this group, the most ever to be swimming with Brewer. Cahill credits the growth of the Hampden program – and that deep connection the kids say they feel – to the positive experience they have with the Brewer kids.

“It’s getting that time of year, this is their last beach party, so a lot of the kids are emotional thinking about what they’re not going to have next year,” she said. “We’ve worked hard to have this unity and it’s a shame it’s going to be broken up.”

Hampden swimmers first joined Brewer in 1989. At first, there were just a few Hampden kids mixed in with Brewer while others competed with Orono and John Bapst teams until the 1996-97 season, when all Hampden swimmers went to Brewer for good.

Some years there was only one Hampden swimmer at Brewer. Other years there were five. That’s exactly the intent of the rules of cooperative teams, according to MPA executive director Dick Durost, who handles issues surrounding cooperative teams.

There are two kinds of cooperative teams, he said. In the first situation, two schools get together to form a team. The cooperation is reflected in the team name. Houlton and Hodgdon high schools, for example, formed a cooperative ice hockey team with the nickname Black Hawks – black for Houlton’s black-and-white colors and hawks for Hodgdon’s mascot.

Then there’s the kind of cooperative capacity that Brewer has served, with Cahill taking on the few Hampden students interested in swimming.

The MPA does not have a set number for what constitutes too many individuals for a cooperative team, Durost said.

This fall, when Hampden submitted a roster of 12 individuals, the MPA told Hampden the number was too high.

“They contacted us asking for the same relationship, and because of the numbers we were uncomfortable doing that,” Durost said. “In the end, we weren’t able to give permission for an individual relationship for a large number of kids.”

The MPA suggested Hampden form its own team this year or “hire” Cahill to be their coach – she’s getting the MPA-suggested rate of $1, she said – and the Broncos started looking into the process of starting a Hampden Academy swimming and diving team.

Exploring options

Hampden’s next step is getting a team into next year’s school budget, something in which Shapiro has been sure to include the student swimmers.

“I want them to understand the process of how we get a team, if we get a team, which is a good educational thing for them,” Shapiro said, “and also I think to put a face to what we’re doing for the school board, too.”

Using a program evaluation form, the students evaluated the feasibility of a swimming program based on factors such as gender equity, the impact on facilities and existing athletic programs, and the likelihood of fielding a competitive team. They also compiled budgetary facts and figures.

The estimated cost of a team would be about $16,825, with most of that money ($9,000) going toward pool time. That figure puts the swimming program in line with other Hampden teams such as skiing and outdoor track and field.

Hampden Academy isn’t reimbursing Brewer for anything this year, Shapiro said, except Cahill’s $1 salary.

That’s the one major sticking point to getting a team up and running – the money will have to be approved by the SAD 22 school board when it votes on its 2005-06 budget this spring.

The Hampden swimmers made a presentation to the SAD 22 board’s athletic committee, which mentioned the proposal for a team at a school board meeting last month.

“I think it’s fair to say we got a favorable response from our first meeting with the athletic committee,” Shapiro said. “They told us to go ahead and put it in the budget. Who knows what will happen down the road but hopefully it will pass.”

The students also put together a survey that they distributed to 250 Hampden students. The survey found that 86 percent of the students who returned their surveys would like to see another winter sports option at Hampden, and 87 percent would like to see Hampden support a swim team.

One of the key pieces of information to come out of the survey was that 50 students said they’d participate in swimming if there were a team. Even if only half of those turn out next season, it’s still more than enough for a team.

“That shows great interest,” Jadkowski said. “And huge amounts of kids said they’d be supportive. I think we all agree that it’s something Hampden’s ready for.”

The survey had an unexpected effect on the Hampden Academy community. Jadkowski said the swimmers are getting more support from teachers and students.

“We’ve gotten a lot more recognition at school, we’re on the winter sports schedule, they’ve started announcing things,” she said. “I think the survey helped with that a lot because it brought it to everyone’s attention.”

That’s one of the reasons some members of the Hampden group like the idea of starting their own team. That extra attention is something the Broncos hadn’t received before, mostly because individuals on cooperative teams do not score in dual meets. Although their times count in qualifying for states, the Hampden swimmers never see their names in the paper because they can’t earn team points.

Other Hampden swimmers, who like Jadkowski have been through the Brewer program, want to stay with the Witches because of experiences like the beach party.

“I think everyone is very much together, but at the same time it’s split between the old kids and the new kids,” Jadkowski said. “[Some of the new swimmers], I know although they value this, they don’t really understand it.”

Pool time is an issue

Although things can get crowded at Brewer-Hampden swimming practices, at least the Broncos now have a place to go. The teams practice two hours a day, six days a week. Practice time during the week is late – 6:30-8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday – but at least the time is available.

That might seem early by what could be Hampden’s practice schedule next year, however.

Pool time is hard to come by in the Bangor area, with only four six-lane, 25-yard pools within about 20 miles. The pools are shared by the University of Maine team, five high school teams, two YMCA programs, one private club, and dozens of health and recreation programs.

But as Durost pointed out, hockey teams around the state are in a similar situation and seem to make it work. In the Bangor area, multiple high school hockey teams share time with youth and recreational leagues and the University of Maine teams.

Foxcroft Academy has an 80-mile round-trip to play home games at Bangor’s Sawyer Arena. Stearns High in Millinocket makes a 140-mile round trip to Houlton’s Millar Arena for games.

The Stearns team holds most of its practices on an outdoor rink. It’s a less-than-ideal situation. Hampden swimmers might face their own challenge next year.

Hampden has been offered time at UMaine’s Wallace Pool, but from 10 p.m. to midnight – not workable with a high school schedule. They can swim at the four-lane, 25-yard Coombs Pool at the Bangor YMCA, but practice time would be limited to 11/2 hours per day and just 4-5 days a week (the Broncos would be able to use Aloupis Pool for meets on Saturday).

Coombs Pool is often used for therapy sessions and the water temperature is around 84-86 degrees – too warm, Cahill said, for competitive swimming.

“Compared to other schools in the area, it would be hard to field a really competitive team,” Jadkowski said.

A sad day

For years, Cahill has given the Hampden Academy swimmers the option of wearing their school colors of purple-and-white. The Broncos have decided to wear Brewer’s orange-and-black.

This year, knowing that it could be their last together, the Brewer swimmers decided to make a change. They unveiled new purple team T-shirts featuring a Bronco wearing a Witches’ hat, at their final home meet of the season.

“It was just really powerful when all the seniors led the Brewer team out at the beginning,” Cahill said. “There was not a dry eye in the stands and even parents who don’t get emotional were upset. It was very touching.”

Both Jadkowski and Cahill are hoping to find a way the two groups can stay together temporarily. The Hampden swimmers feel they need more time to put together a team, while Cahill would like to continue with the current group and not take any more Hampden kids.

That probably won’t happen, although the teams could be together again in some fashion in the next five years.

The current group includes seniors Kayla Manning, Kelly Donahue and Kelly Pennington; juniors Jadkowski, Tabitha Varney, Ashley Junkins (Cahill’s niece), Maggie Mourkas and Mark Hagar; sophomores Mike Emery and Josh Ranger; and freshmen Erin Doucette and Matt Alexander.

Cahill is heading up a proposal for a new wellness complex in Brewer that would include a pool, giving Witches a facility of their own. The Hampden swimmers would likely get first crack at pool time after the Brewer team.

There has been talk of appealing the MPA’s decision. But for now, if the swim team proposal passes in the SAD 22 budget, the teams will have to be content to cheer for each other.

“… In the back of my mind I still dream that something is going to happen and these kids will be allowed to stay with us,” Cahill said. “I’m very attached to them and it will be a sad day when they’re not going to be with us.”

SWIMMING

Penobscot Valley Conference Championships

Boys

Friday

At Aloupis Pool, Bangor YWCA

Diving trials, 4 p.m. (last three dives will be held after the 50 free during the swim meet)

Swimming heats, 6 p.m.

Admission: $4 for adults, $2 students

Ribbons will be awarded for places 1-12 for relays and individual events. Team awards for first and second place.

Girls

Saturday

At Husson College pool, Bangor

Diving trials, 9:15 a.m.

Swimming heats, noon

Admission: $4 for adults, $2 students