Bangor girls repeat as Class A state champs Rams win with balance, depth

BRUNSWICK – This year’s Bangor High girls swimming and diving senior class had a special mission. The Rams wanted to win the Class A state championship. They wanted to defend their 2006 title. And they were hungry to restore the glory years of Bangor girls swimming.

Despite having just one individual event champion, senior diver Emma Chaiken, the Rams accomplished all of their goals in Monday’s Class A meet at Bowdoin College’s Greason Pool.

Bangor scored 352 points, more than enough to hold off Cape Elizabeth’s 291, for its second straight state title and the program’s 14th overall. It was the Rams’ first back-to-back run since they won three straight from 1995 to 1997.

“We can’t let this end on our watch,” said Lily Herbold, one of five Bangor senior captains. “We were ecstatic to win last year and this is just icing on the cake. It’s been a long time [since back-to-back titles] and I hope it keeps going.”

Scarborough finished in third place with 250 points, followed by Morse of Bath (232) and Kennebunk (162).

Sophomore Jessica Hodsdon paced Brewer to a ninth-place finish with state championship wins in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 breaststroke.

Bangor’s depth was too much for the rest of the field. The Rams placed at least one swimmer in the top eight of every individual event and had two top-8 swimmers in three events.

“It’s amazing,” Herbold said. “We have depth and we show it. That right there is amazing. We wouldn’t mind winning a few more events, but it just shows how close we are as a team and how well we work together.”

The Capers and the Rams battled early. Sorrell Cardello, Lily Herbold, Grace Barnett and Hilary Babin got Bangor off to a strong start with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay.

Cape had a 25-point lead after the 200 free – Mara Shapero led the Rams with a fifth in that event – but Herbold and Cardello went 3-5 in the 200 individual medley to help the Rams pull to a 78-78 tie.

The Capers went ahead 11 points after the 50 free, but the 1-4-5-7 finishes for Bangor divers Chaiken, Ashley Higgins, Meghan Rowe and Juliet Cobb were good for 61 points and a 47-point lead. The Rams held on despite Cape’s 1-2-3 finish in the 100 free.

“Winning states has been a goal of mine since freshman year,” said Chaiken, who was the runner-up last year. “I’m happy to have won it. It also gives us 16 more points to play with and it takes some pressure off the swimmers. It gives us a little more wiggle room.”

Bangor stretched its advantage in the final events, placing three swimmers in both the breaststroke and backstroke. Cape Elizabeth didn’t have a swimmer in either event.

“We knew they weren’t very strong in the back half of the meet but that doesn’t mean anything,” Herbold said. “You still have to do your part.”

The Rams’ top swimming finishes included Herbold’s second in the 500 free, Barnett’s third in the fly and fifth in the backstroke, Babin’s fifth in the 100 free, and Cardello’s third in the breaststroke. Shapero also placed fifth in the 500 free and Bangor was fourth in the 200 free relay and second in the 400 free relay.

Bangor had two swimmers who were seeded to place in the consolation finals move up to the championships based on morning swims. Babin, who was ninth going into the preliminary heats of the 50 free, grabbed the eighth spot for the evening, and wound up seventh. Michelle Gist, who was 12th going into the 100 free, claimed eighth. Gist also finished ninth in the 50 free despite being seeded 14th.

Brewer sophomore Hodsdon had a very busy end to Monday’s meet, putting up a lifetime-best 1:07.78 in the breaststroke, setting school records in that event and the 50 free, and then anchoring the Witches to a win in the consolation final (ninth overall) of the 400 free relay. They were seeded 10th in the relay.

She had just a few minutes between the breaststroke and relay, which are back-to-back events.

“I’ve been wanting to go under 1:08 and I was hoping to do that today, which I did,” Hodsdon said. “I was pretty tired, but we wanted to move up a place in the relay and get ninth. It meant a lot for the team so we really tried to get it. And we did.”

Hampden’s Erin Doucette placed sixth in both the back and the 200 free.

Cape’s Nora Daly won the Swimmer of the Meet award for state titles in the 200 and 500 freestyles. Edward Little of Auburn was the team sportsmanship award winner.