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Lauren Dwyer had a tough choice to make in trying to decide whether she would swim for Orono High this year.
The budding freshman star is pleased with the choice she ultimately made with an impressive high school debut after deciding to compete for both the Red Riots and her club swimming team, the Bangor Y Barracudas. Although Dwyer isn’t sure if she will do both next winter, she’s sure to make a splash at Saturday’s Penobscot Valley Conference girls swimming and diving championships.
Dwyer will lead the Red Riots into the PVC meet at the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool at 11 a.m.
Dwyer has a chance to win two individual events, but the Bangor girls have a chance to dominate again and win their ninth straight PVC crown, while the Mount Desert Island boys are aiming at their fourth straight in Friday’s 6 p.m. meet at Husson College in Bangor.
Dwyer had a fine summer before her freshman year, finishing as the first-place point-scorer in the 13-14 age group at the summer championship meet in which Maine’s club teams compete. She was still unsure about whether to do both club and high school swimming.
“I know a lot of competitive swimmers don’t do it,” she said. “But I mainly did high school swimming for the fun and the team atmosphere. I’ve enjoyed it, although I’ve been tired this year.”
The 5-foot-8 Dwyer currently holds some of the top times in Class B. She leads the state with her 25.00-second season-best in the 50-yard freestyle and her 1:00.12 in the 100-yard butterfly.
Dwyer has also set school records in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke, both of which were held by former Orono standout Kate Kovenock.
Her 100 backstroke time of 1:02.35 is second in Class B and she’s fourth in both the 200 free and the 200 individual medley. The only event Dwyer hasn’t done yet in a high school meet is the 500 free, although her personal best of around 5:27 would put her second.
Dwyer is seeded first in the fly for PVCs. It should be a competitive race with Dwyer, Bangor High’s Grace Barnett and John Bapst of Bangor’s Tara Nitardy, who are the top three seeds, respectively, all within about a second of each other. They’re all set for the third and final heat of the event.
Dwyer is eager to face Nitardy and Barnett because she doesn’t get a lot of competition in high school races.
“I haven’t swam against Grace,” Dwyer said. “We had a meet against her team but I didn’t swim against her.”
Dwyer, who is undefeated so far in high school, will also go up against Barnett in the 100 backstroke although Dwyer’s time is a little less than two seconds better than Barnett’s.
Orono coach Gary Theriault put Dwyer in the back and the fly without knowing which swimmers she’d have to face. He’s glad it’ll be close.
“I wanted her to have a chance to swim her best events and do what she has to do to get ready for states,” Theriault said. “Lauren is a competitor. You can see it in her eyes. I’d put my money on her any time.”
Dwyer comes by her talent through both hard work and genes. She estimates she swims about 50,000 yards per week depending on how many double practices she does per week for the Riots and the Barracudas.
Her mother, Debbie Dwyer, swam for the University of Maine and Biddeford High School in the 1970s when she was known as Debbie Mininni.
Dwyer said she’d like to swim in college someday.
“I’m setting my goals and my times pretty high,” she said. “I want to get a scholarship to swim. Oh, and I want to be a doctor when I grow up. Or a teacher.”
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