The first time Bobbi Stoyell coached at a swimming and diving state championship meet, she wasn’t quite prepared for what happened when the team won.

Traditionally, coaches take a dip in the pool along with the team. Stoyell did, too, although it made for an uncomfortable ride back from the Cape Elizabeth High School pool.

“I had very wet clothes and very wet underwear,” she said with a laugh, 23 years after that soggy drive.

Stoyell, who coaches diving, hasn’t gone without a change of clothes since. And it’s a good thing, because she has coached at least one state championship team every year, to the tune of 29 state titles, two individual state champions, and a share of the only team diving state championship ever awarded by the Maine Principals’ Association.

This year’s Bangor boys and girls Class A state-title double will be Stoyell’s last, however.

The longtime coach and teacher at Old Town and Bangor high schools has decided to retire from both teaching and coaching.

“It’s time,” Stoyell said. “Twenty-three years [in coaching], 30-something years [in teaching], I think that’s enough. I’m not going to shovel another shovelful of snow.

Not where she’s going. Stoyell is headed to Ellenton, Fla., a town near Sarasota. Stoyell’s mother lives nearby and there’s a mobile home, for which Stoyell and her husband began paying 20 years ago, waiting for her there.

Stoyell’s husband, Paul, a former University of Maine soccer coach, died in June.

Bobbi Stoyell, who has taught physical education at Bangor since 1969 with some time off when she had children in the late 1970s and early 1980s, began her coaching career in 1985 under Dave Ploch, who was then the Old Town boys swimming coach.

She coached Old Town’s Jaret Lizzotte to the Class B boys individual diving title in 1994. Lizzotte is now the University of Maine diving coach.

Stoyell joined the Bangor team in 1998. Nine years later, Bangor’s Emma Chaiken won the Class A girls crown.

In 2000, when the Maine Principals’ Association created a separate diving championship, the Bangor boys shared the Class A championship with South Portland and the Bangor girls were the runners-up to Brunswick.

The next year, the MPA did away with the separate diving title and merged diving back into swimming.

Even in the years Stoyell didn’t coach individual champions, her divers were always competitive. Bangor divers took second, third, fourth and sixth at the state swimming and diving meet this year to help the Rams win their second straight Class A girls title.

Ashley Higgins, who was second at Class A states, was third in the New England championships earlier this month.

Stoyell had just one Bangor boy in the state meet this year, but Andrew Sawyer’s fourth-place finish certainly helped the Rams win their second straight state title.

“It’s always nice to win, but to be a part of this [season] was really exciting,” she said. “… [Twenty-nine state titles is] amazing to even think about.”

Stoyell credited coaches Ploch and Phil Emery of Bangor with helping her along the way, especially with learning the sport of diving. She had been a gymnast in her native New Jersey, then competed in gymnastics at Ithaca College in New York.

“Great programs, great coaches,” she said of Ploch and Emery. “The coaches have been fantastic.”

John Bapst sixth at New Englands

The Class B state runner-up John Bapst cheerleading team placed sixth overall in Division II at the New England Spirit Competition Saturday at Woburn (Mass.) High School.

The Crusaders of Bangor scored 164 points, with a five-point deduction. Waterford (Conn.) won the 12-team division with 192 points. Poland, which took the Class B state title last month, finished 11th with 143 points and also had a five-point deduction.

Class D state champ Central Aroostook of Mars Hill scored 134 points, including a five-point deduction, to place ninth out of 14 teams in the coed division. Methuen (Mass.) was the winner with a 196.

Other Maine teams that participated were Marshwood of Eliot and Scarborough, which were fourth and seventh, respectively, out of 11 teams in Division I.

Cony stars in unusual playoff

Two former Cony of Augusta girls basketball standouts found themselves in an unusual situation Friday night.

Katie Rollins, a senior on the Harvard women’s basketball team, and Dartmouth freshman Cassie Cooper faced each other in a playoff to determine the winner of the Ivy League women’s championship.

The Ivy League is the only conference without a postseason tournament, so the regular-season champion gains the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

This year, however, Dartmouth, Harvard and Cornell found themselves in a three-way tie. Cornell won a coin flip for a bye, so the Crimson and Big Green played Friday night at Columbia in New York City. Cooper’s Dartmouth squad beat Rollins’ Harvard team 68-62.

Rollins started the game, scoring 12 points to go with five rebounds. Cooper played two minutes with one field goal for two points.

Dartmouth’s postseason road ended Sunday, however, when Cornell beat the Big Green 64-47 to boost the Big Red into the NCAA tourney. Cooper didn’t score and had one rebound and a block in two minutes of action.

Rollins was named Miss Maine Basketball in 2005. She was a member of the BDN All-Maine first team that year, while Cooper was on the second team as a sophomore that year. Cooper went on to make two first-team appearances.

It was the second time in three seasons the Ivy League has needed a playoff. In 2006, Brown, Dartmouth and Princeton all shared the regular-season title. Dartmouth beat both teams to win the playoff. The Ivy League has gone to a playoff three other times, with Dartmouth involved in each.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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