BANGOR – The Mount Desert Island boys swimming team continued its march through the 2007-08 season Friday night, scoring 289 points en route to a fifth straight Penobscot Valley Conference championship.

Bangor got strong relay performances for the runner-up title, finishing with 270 points. Brewer was third with 191, followed by John Bapst of Bangor with 138 points and Ellsworth in fifth with 134.

There were 12 teams in the meet.

MDI senior Justin Gilmartin led the way for the Trojans with individual wins in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races.

But more importantly, the four-time defending Class B state champions had 14 different swimmers score in at least one event and 12 in at least two individual events.

MDI also won the 200 free relay and placed second in the medley relay and 400 free relay.

“We have so much depth,” said Gilmartin, who also swam on the medley relay and 200 free relay teams. “The big thing for us is, we might get second in something, but we’ll also get sixth and seventh. We have a lot of really good swimmers behind the big swimmers like me, Ian [Carbone] and Ty [Onda].”

Other big individual finishers for the Trojans were:

. Carbone, who was second in the individual medley and third in the butterfly;

. Onda with a second in the backstroke and third in the 500 free;

. Michael Breen, who was fifth in the fly and sixth in the 200 free;

. Patrick Breen, who took ninth in the back and seventh in the 200 free; and

. Ben Cline, who was third in the 100 free and seventh in the 50 free.

Carbone, Michael and Patrick Breen also swam on the 200 free relay team.

Stephen Zirnkilton, Nigel Storer, Cullen O’Brien, Ben Cline, Evan Hendricks, Jeremy Hyde and Calvin Tweedie each placed in two individual events for MDI.

“This was a really good meet for us to swim before states,” Gilmartin said. “It’ll get us pumped up.”

Gilmartin shaved more than two seconds from his 200 free time. He was second in the 100 last year.

The Rams got a big early boost with a win in the 200 medley relay, with freestyle anchor Joey Quinn sealing the win. Taylor Wicks, James Moreside and Tyler Brookings also swam in the relay.

They bookended the meet with a win in the 400 free relay as Quinn edged Onda in the final leg. Quinn got a big push from Tyler Brookings, who gave Bangor a lead in the third leg. Taylor Wicks, who chopped off more than two seconds from his backstroke seed time to win that event after finishing third in 2007, also swam on the 400 free relay along with Zack Veilleux.

The relay wins were particularly sweet for Bangor.

“Relays are more of a team effort when you’re swimming them,” Quinn said. “I like them a lot more than the individual events because they’re a lot more exciting. It’s not just you. It’s you and three of your teammates. And all the relay splits were pretty much the best we’ve had all year.”

Quinn, a distance specialist, also finished second in the 200 free and won the 500 free, holding off Brewer’s Andrew Meehan and George Stevens of Blue Hill’s Cole Larson-Whittaker in the latter event. Quinn dropped around five seconds from his season best in the 500 and is hoping to lop off around 11 more, which would put him under five minutes at states.

He won the 200 and was third in the 500 last year.

Meehan was second in the 500 and third in the 200. Brewer teammate John Williams was fourth in the IM and the fly, while Brent Williams took fifth in the 200 free and sixth in the 500. Those three, along with Zach Beaulier, made up the third-place 400 free relay team.

Bapst’s Drew Desrosiers took the breaststroke, defending his 2007 title in that event, and won the 50 free while Brian Batson led Ellsworth with wins in the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly.

Orono diver Kirby Kelly, who was eighth last year, edged Brewer’s Todd Shane by 3.45 points for the PVC diving title. There were just five divers.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

990-8193