ORONO – As soon as she got out of the water after swimming her leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay, Gabby Babin walked quickly over to where her Bangor teammates were intently watching the rest of the Ram relay churn through Wallace Pool.

One by one, Babin’s relay-mates got out of the pool and joined her as she jumped and screamed.

Eventually, all four Bangor swimmers stood together, clutching each other. When Rams coach Cindi Howard joined them, it finally seemed real.

For the first time since 1997, the Bangor girls swimming and diving team was state champs.

The Rams scored 3601/2 points in Tuesday night’s finals for their 13th state crown. It’s also the first state championship for any Bangor High School girls sports program since that 1997 swimming win.

“It’s incredible,” said Bangor senior Erica Simpson, who was seventh in both the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke and swam on two third-place relays. “We’ve been so close every year, so it’s amazing.”

The Rams were the runners-up last year, third in 2004 and second in 2003.

In order to earn the win – and Bangor definitely had to earn it – the Rams held off Cape Elizabeth, which was looking for its first state championship since winning three straight from 2002 to 2004.

“I knew we were close, but I personally didn’t know we had a chance to win,” Babin said.

It came down to the last relay, which the Capers won, but the team finished with 350 points for runner-up honors. Bangor needed to finish sixth or better in the 400 free relay, and the Rams wound up second.

Scarborough, the defending champ, finished third with 329 points. Morse of Bath and Deering of Portland tied for fourth place with 1351/2.

The Capers and the Rams went back and forth all evening. Cape Elizabeth had an early lead, but Bangor went ahead after Grace Barnett led a Bangor trio that finished 4-6-7 in the IM. Sarah Nichols of Bangor helped out with a 13th-place finish despite the holding the No. 20 seed. The Rams had a 112-83 advantage after the IM.

Cape’s sprinters reversed the lead again, finishing 1-4-6 behind Kinsey Tarbell’s victory in the 50 free. Gabby Babin was fifth for Bangor’s top finish, although again the Rams had a swimmer best her seed as 15th-ranked Brianna Theriault came in 14th.

The diving board was the next battleground for Bangor and Cape Elizabeth. The Capers had a 2-point lead going into the event, which was won by their Laura Williamson, but Bangor took a 169-156 lead on Emma Chaiken’s second as well as two more top-8 finishes.

The Rams stretched their lead thanks to Barnett’s second in the 100 fly, but the speedy Capers snatched it back in the 100 free as Tarbell won her second event and three more Cape sprinters went 4-6-7 for an 18-point overall lead. Babin came in third in the 100 free.

Cape Elizabeth maintained the lead after the 500 free but the Capers had a slight slipup in the 200 free relay with Scarborough finishing first in one of the most exciting and close races of the meet.

“That did help, because it knocked Cape down,” Howard said.

The Capers didn’t have anyone in the backstroke and with just one swimmer in the breaststroke, they fell behind Bangor for good. The Rams had at least two swimmers in each of those stroke events.

Bangor just had to seal it with a solid finish in the final relay, but the Rams weren’t interested in settling for fifth or sixth.

“We knew. But we wanted to go all the way,” said Babin, who contributed a fifth in the 50 free.

And the Rams had to avoid a disqualification in the relay because they’d DQ’ed in a relay at states two years in a row and had another in 2001 before Howard took over the team.

That was the more practical reason Babin moved away from the pool after she finished her leg of the relay – Howard didn’t want any accidental spills with all the pushing and shoving near the water.

“Let me tell you, I hold my breath every time they get on the blocks,” said Howard, still wet from a traditional post-meet dip. “We’ve been really working hard on our relay starts just for that reason.”

Bangor was strong in the first two events as well. The Rams finished third in the medley relay and Mara Shapero was second in the 200 free, with Lily Herbold fifth.

Unlike Cape Elizabeth, which won five events and had the Swimmer of the Meet in Tarbell, the Rams didn’t have first-place finishers or big stars.

Instead, Bangor got results like those from Jackie Cobb, who was seeded 14th in the 200 free but moved up to 12th and went from 13th to 10th in the 100 free; Katie Bears, who started the meet 10th in the breaststroke but qualified for the championship final and wound up tied for seventh; and Elizabeth Heinonen, who went from 15th to 12th in the 500 free.

Brewer freshman Jessica Hodsdon had an impressive state championships debut as the Witches finished in eighth place. She took third in the 50 free and was second in the breaststroke.

Hodsdon had the top seed for the final in the breaststroke, but she didn’t see Deering’s Emily Sweatt over in lane 6. Sweatt went on to win.

“I just tried to do what I needed to do and focused on what I was doing,” Hodsdon said. “… I was really happy with the [50 free] because I got a lifetime best time (25.52).”

Hodsdon also swam on a Brewer medley relay that took the consolation final in that event and anchored the Witches’ eighth-place 400 free relay. Brewer’s Devan Doucette placed fourth in the diving.

Hampden was 20th overall. Erin Doucette was the top finisher for the Broncos, placing ninth in the 100 butterfly and 11th in 100 backstroke.

Deering won the sportsmanship award.