ORONO – A couple miles north of swim coach Jeff Wren’s University of Maine office sits a school that has won 12 straight boys Class B high school swim titles and five girls crowns in a row.

Ten miles down Interstate 95 is a school that has won four consecutive boys Class A championships and two straight girls titles.

Is it any wonder that 20 percent – 12 of 60 swimmers – of his combined men’s and women’s roster are Old Town and Bangor grads?

Probably not.

Included in that group are six freshman men from Bangor, including the intact state-record 200 medley relay squad from last spring.

“Those programs are coached by well-organized, team-oriented people who impart some of those good team-spirit values and work-ethic values to their kids,” Wren said.

As Wren’s UMaine squads embark on a new season this weekend with a pair of relay meets, the women are looking to improve on a 5-5 1995-96 record, while the men are trying to bounce back from a 1-9 finish.

The Black Bears compete at the University of Connecticut Relays on Friday in Storrs, Conn., and the America East Conference Relays in Boston on Saturday.

“The women lose no championship points from last year, but we’ve had a very limited number of freshmen come in,” Wren said.

The big gun for the women is sophomore Susie Herrick of Wenham, Mass., who set four school records in the butterfly and individual medleys last year.

“Susie beats most of the men on a daily basis in practice,” Wren said. “She is very strong, and can do any stroke.”

Sophomore twins Shannon Smith and Trina Smith of Old Town both excel in the backstroke, while fellow Old Town alum Stacey Bloemen is a junior captain who swims the butterfly and freestyle.

Buoying the Bears hopes this year will be a transfer-enhanced distance corps, featuring Glenburn native Heather McLeod, a sophomore who came from Vermont; Molly Dinan of Cumberland, a distance runner at national power Providence who was driven out of that sport by stress fractures; and Gina French, a transfer student from Mount Hood Community College in Oregon.

The other captain is senior Sarah Riley of Lumberville, Pa., a breaststroker who just missed the 100-yard school record last season. Bangor senior Kate Splane swims the 50 free.

“We have a lot of men, and we have the potential to be signifcantly better,” Wren said. “Potentially is kind of a key word, because a lot of them are learning about what the hard work is really all about.”

The Bangor freshmen flood includes Chris Falk, Vi Thai, Matt Cook and Eric York, who made up the record relay squad, along with Abel Gleason and Mark Manowski.

They will try to add depth to a junior-laden Bear squad.

One captain is junior Jaret Lizzotte of Old Town, who swam relays in high school to help his team, but starred as the state champ diver. Nexclusively.

“I’ve never given him anything he couldn’t handle,” Wren said. “He’s just as tough as they come. And he could probably still place in the top six in the conference in diving.”

Also mentioned for his toughness is the other captain, 200-butterfly specialist Erik Maier of Bath.

“Anyone who specializes in the 200 butterfly has to be pretty tough,” Wren said.

Junior Steffan Ganske of Brunswick competes in the 100 fly and 100 back, while sophomore diver Jordan Pike placed in the conference finals on both the one-meter and three-meter boards last season.

Wren also expects fast times out of sophomore transfer Jim McEnaney in the butterfly races.

UMaine schedule

Oct. 25 at UConn Relays, 11 a.m. Oct. 26 at America East Relays, Boston, noon Nov. 9 Vermont, noon Nov. 16 Holy Cross, 11 a.m. Nov. 23 at Northeastern (women), noon Nov. 24 at Central Connecticut, noon Dec. 7 Boston University, noon Jan. 3 Xavier, Ohio, TBA Jan. 15 at Colby (exhibition), 6 p.m. Jan. 25 at Boston College, 11 a.m. Feb. 1 at New Hampshire, 2 p.m. Feb. 14-16 America East Championships Feb. 27-March 1 at ECAC Championships