Shipbuilders end Deering title run; Bangor takes 5th

ORONO – Once Spencer Hallowell and Luke Trafton got rolling, there was nothing for anyone else to do but watch the Morse of Bath boys swimming and diving team cruise to the Class A state championship Monday evening at the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool.

The Shipbuilders, behind two individual wins from Trafton and one from Hallowell, piled up 303 points for the school’s first-ever state championship and ended Deering of Portland’s three-year run of titles. Morse is only the seventh different team to win a Class A boys title since 1979.

“We were really pumped for this,” said Trafton, who was named Swimmer of the Meet. “We have a reputation for not having a good meet [in the morning preliminary heats]. But everybody stepped up and did what they had to do.”

Scarborough was the runner-up, scoring 246 points and holding off Cape Elizabeth, which finished third with 242. Deering wound up fourth (190) and Bangor was fifth (177).

The state competitions went to 16-place scoring this winter from 12 places in previous years.

Bangor’s finish was tops among the Penobscot Valley Conference teams, but there were several fine individual performances from the Rams, as well as swimmers from Brewer and Hampden.

The Broncos wrapped up their first season as an independent team with Jake Cardello and Josh Ranger each reaching two championship finals. Cardello finished fifth in the 200-yard freestyle and third in the 50 free, while Ranger claimed fourth in the 100 free and third in the 100 breaststroke.

Ranger has dropped more than four seconds in his breaststroke since the beginning of the season.

“I had some decent time drops, especially in my breaststroke,” he said. “That was the one I was most excited about.”

The Broncos also placed fifth in the 200 free relay, which meant a lot more than their win in the consolation final of the 400 free relay.

“That was really cool,” Ranger said. “To be fifth in the whole state, plus everybody had time drops … we were really excited about that.”

The Broncos placed 10th with just four swimmers. Mark Hagar and Matt Alexander rounded out the Hampden team.

A pair of sophomores powered Brewer as John Williams took sixth in the 100 butterfly and Andrew Meehan was seventh in the 100 free. The two were 7-8, respectively, in the 500 free.

Williams dropped below one minute in the fly and cut 12 seconds off his top freestyle time.

“That pretty much creamed my previous time,” Williams said of his freestyle swim. “I’ve been training pretty hard all season. It all came together today.”

The Witches had another reason to celebrate – Brewer coach Kathy Cahill was the annual honoree for the state swimming meets. Brewer tied with Biddeford for 15th overall.

Brandon Frenette sparked Bangor early, winning the consolation final of the 200 individual medley. His time of 2:14.92 was more than four seconds faster than his seed time.

Frenette also fifth overall in the 100 backstroke. Tyler Brookings and Tommy Wong went 7-8 in the 50 free, although neither was seeded to finish in the top eight.

The Rams placed three divers in the top 16 to bump the team up to third place overall.

Brian Wardwell led the Ram divers with 283.65 points for a sixth-place finish.

All three Ram relays were in the championship finals – Bangor’s top relay finish was fourth in the 200 free relay – and overall Bangor had at least one swimmer in each event except for the breaststroke and at least two swimmers scored in four swimming events.

Morse led off the meet with an easy win in the 200 medley relay, followed by Hallowell’s victory in the 200 free and Trafton’s in the IM. The Shipbuilders went 6-13 in the 50 free, but after Keaton Scarponi won his second straight diving championship, Morse had a 43-point lead on Cape Elizabeth and was well on the way to its title.

Trafton – known to Morse fans as “Lucky” – also earned a win in the 500 free. Hallowell took runner-up honors in the 100 free.

Trafton didn’t have best times in his events, but that was OK with him.

“My goal was just to maintain the number-one seed, and then halfway through the meet when we realized how well we were doing, we just had to finish,” he said.

Scarborough’s Doug Endrizzi was also a double-event winner, cruising to wins in the 50 and 100 free races.

Cony of Augusta won the sportsmanship award.