ORONO – Tuesday’s Class A girls state swimming and diving championship meet hadn’t even reached its halfway point, but the blood was already figuratively in the Wallace Pool water and the Bangor Rams may as well have been sharks.

Even after a strong start, Bangor High School’s team members knew their chances of a “three-peat” hinged on their performance in the fifth of 12 events: the 1-meter dive.

With four Bangor girls in the finals and the other three top teams having two total, the Rams would either sink or swim with their divers.

The divers delivered as sophomore Ashley Higgins headed up a 2-3-4-6 finish with 309.05 points. Senior Julie Cobb followed with 278.3, sophomore Meghan Rowe had 278.15, and freshman Julie Clifford was sixth overall with 273.5.

The foursome’s finish racked up a whopping 61 meet points for the Rams to give them 143 overall as well as a 47-point lead over Cape Elizabeth and Morse of Bath. Several twists and turns later, the Rams had 281 points and their third straight state title.

“This is the first one that’s come down to our divers, but they really came through,” said Rams head coach Cindi Howard. “Three in a row sounds totally awesome.

“They’ve all been pretty intense, but this has been the most extreme. This was the most nerve-wracking of the three. I’ve been a basket case all day.”

The suspense was worth it as Bangor not only won the meet but also the sportsmanship award, much to Howard’s glee.

Bangor’s only diving competition among the “big four” schools coming in as meet favorites (Bangor, Cape, Morse and Scarborough) was Cape, which had two divers – Melanie Pinette (eighth) and Morgan Mancall (15th).

If the divers were the middle legs of Bangor’s relay-style attack, senior Erin Thomas was the lead as she swam the lead leg for Bangor’s second-place 200-yard medley relay team (with Sorrell Cardello, Grace Barnett and Tatjana Spanehl) and then won the meet’s second event (200 individual medley) with a time of 1 minute, 57.52 seconds.

“I had never been on the team before this year, so it’s my first and last championship,” Thomas said. “I swim on a club team but decided to swim my last year on the school team, and this makes it all even more special.”

Bangor lost five points it was seeded to win in the event following diving (100 butterfly) but held serve in the 100 freestyle as Spanehl finished ninth, as she was seeded. The Rams regained some of the lost points in the 500 free as Thomas finished second, as seeded, and Alica LaFlamme moved up three spots from 14th to 11th.

Cape closed the gap to just five points (211 to 206) three-quarters of the way through the meet by winning the 200 free relay, but the Rams still had something to smile about as their relay moved up a spot from their seeding to finish ninth.

Scarborough caused a ripple in the 100 backstroke by putting three swimmers in the top eight and briefly taking the team points lead with 218 to Bangor’s 216. Morse was at 215 after 10 events.

Next up was the 100 breaststroke, where Jessica Hodsdon of seventh-place Brewer came away with an individual championship in 1:08.50.

Then came the “anchor leg” portion of Bangor’s victory: the 400 free relay.

“We needed all the points we got. It came down to the relay and we needed either a first or second to win,” said Howard.

Again, Thomas figured into the mix along with teammates Barnett, Cardello and Spanehl. The Rams stayed right with top-seeded Cape and finished a tenth of a second behind for second place in 3:48.81.

It was a bit of redemption for Barnett, a senior who has been on the last three Bangor teams.

“That was my butterfly event we lost some points in, but other girls stepped up for us and we finished strong with the relay,” said Barnett, who was sixth in butterfly but second in the 100 breaststroke. “This is what we’ve been swimming for the whole season. We really wanted to win three in a row.”

Bangor last won three in a row 11 years ago (1995-97).

Sanford sophomore Jennifer Roberts broke the state record while winning the 100 backstroke with a finals time of 58.35. That was just one of two meet records she broke on the day, the other coming in the 200 IM with a time of 2:07.67. She was named the meet’s outstanding swimmer.