Bangor rolls in PVCs Rams’ fire, depth make it 9 straight

ORONO – The dynasty that is the Bangor High School girls swimming and diving team extended its reign over the Penobscot Valley Conference to nine years Saturday.

Coach Cindi Howard’s Rams had no need for a dramatic ending to win their ninth straight PVC title as they won going away – 374 points to runner-up Mount Desert Island’s 315 – via quantity and quality.

“We had about 50 swimmers compete and I would say about 45 had their personal bests, so that definitely exceeded my expectations,” Howard said.

The MDI Trojans finished second for at least a fourth straight year with John Bapst of Bangor third at 164 points. Brewer was fourth with 123 and Orono fifth with 91.

“We had 25 girls competing and I’d say, including divers, we had about 18 or 19 of them have personal bests today,” said MDI coach Tony DeMuro. “[Cindi] has so many girls, but it’s not just numbers. They all seem to score and that makes a huge difference.”

Out of the 12 events in the meet, Bangor swimmers won six of them: two relays and four individual.

As good as Bangor was, it had no repeat individual champs. The only team to boast one of those among the 13 teams assembled at the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool was Brewer sophomore star Jessica Hodsdon.

Hodsdon made a big splash by not only winning the 50-yard freestyle but also winning the 100 free with a PVC and school record time of 1 minute, 8.16 seconds. The PVC record she topped (1:09.55) was her own and was set in last year’s meet. Even with the record, she wasn’t totally satisfied.

“I was kind of hoping to go in 1:07 this year and I got pretty close, so I hope to go under 1:08 in states,” said Hodsdon, who credited her tactical approach to the 100 for her improvement. “I think it’s the way I pace myself. I started pacing the race like that in New Englands last year and it’s really worked a lot better for me.

“Before, I went all out. This year I don’t go all out on the first 50 because if I do, I kind of die a little in the second. This way, I finish a lot stronger.”

The 200 medley relay team of juniors Sorrell Cardello and Grace Barnett and seniors Lily Herbold and Gabby Babin started things off strongly for Bangor by winning the meet’s opening event. Four events later, senior Emma Chaiken was the lone diver to top the 300-point plateau with 302.2 to win the 1-meter dive.

The next event saw another Ram win with Barnett taking the 100 butterfly.

“Having teammates win early helps get us hyped up and gets us going,” said the third-seeded Barnett, who ignited the Rams with her slight upset.

Babin kept the surge going by winning the next event, the 100 free, by equaling her season personal-best time of 58.21 seconds.

“So many of our girls dropped a ton of time today and that’s just inspirational for the whole team,” Babin said. “It makes everyone else go harder. It’s kind of contagious.”

Then came Herbold, who took a more deliberate approach in winning the 500 free.

“Basically you work the middle, but for this race, I was seeded pretty far ahead of the next girl, so I paced myself and I was really happy with the way I swam it,” Herbold said. “I need to pick it up in states, but this was a good race for me.”

The Rams ended the meet the way they started, by winning a relay. Although it was pushed by MDI, the 400 free quartet of Babin, Cardello, senior Mara Shapero, and Barnett bested the field with a time of 3:53.64, 4.43 seconds ahead of the Trojans.

Bangor’s girls admitted that a big chunk of their motivation came from not wanting to be the first team in nine years to lose the PVC meet.

“It’s not something we stress over, but yeah, we don’t want to be the team that ends the streak,” Babin admitted.

“We love it,” Herbold said of the pressure. “It’s what gets us back here every year, and MDI always pushes us because we know if we’re not on our game, they have a chance to beat us.”

Saturday’s other race winners were Hampden Academy junior Erin Doucette in the 200 free, John Bapst sophomore Tara Nitardy in the 200 IM, MDI seniors Amy Harrison and Chelsea White and sophomores Alyson Yau and Kelly Harrison in the 200 free relay, and Orono freshman Lauren Dwyer with a school record of 1:01.97 in the 100 backstroke.