OLD TOWN – With the always-intense Penobscot Valley Conference rivalry between Old Town and Bangor, there were sure to be plenty of good races at Thursday’s girls swimming meet at the Old Town High pool.

There were also plenty of telling races – events that allowed young swimmers to make statements about their prospects at next week’s PVC championships and in the years to come.

In one such race, the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Indians came from behind to out-touch the Rams. Old Town also took the 400 free relay and six other individual races, but the Rams racked up enough second- and third-place finishes to earn a 99-86 victory.

“This is what it’s all about,” Bangor coach Ginny McMillan said. “It’s a meet that we always look forward to and it’s good to have right before PVCs.”

Indians junior Katie Laverdiere blistered the 200 free relay field with a 25.92 in the final leg. Beyond the win, however, was the feeling that a host of freshmen and sophomores like Candida Caravajal, Lucy Gross and Erin Woolley of Bangor, along with Old Town underclassmen Jenai Bernholz and Kiva Hermansen, are just a few seconds and a drop of poise away from major breakthroughs.

For Bangor, Gross, Caravajal and Woolley, along with junior Stacey McAvoy and senior Emily Haney, made up for most of the Indians’ front-line speed.

Woolley won the 500 free with a time of 6:05.38. Caravajal, who has some of the best times in Class A this season, anchored the winning 200 medley relay. She was second to Laverdiere in the 50 free and led off the second-place 200 free relay.

Gross swam the third leg of the medley relay, took second in the 100 butterfly, and was fourth in the 200 individual medley.

“It does give you a lot of confidence,” Caravajal said. “I didn’t win, but I did come in second to juniors and seniors…We have a really strong freshman class.”

McAvoy also swam in the medley relay, won the 100 backstroke (1:09.28), and was second to Laverdiere in the breaststroke.

Bangor swept the top three spots in the diving. Samantha Hartery, another of the Rams’ talented freshmen, racked up 156.10 points to take first place.

Old Town’s win in that 200 free relay made for the most exciting race of the evening.

Swimming the third leg of the relay, Bangor’s Emily Haney had a lead on Old Town’s Amanda Peterson. But Peterson, a senior, closed to within a body length by the time Laverdiere took over the anchor leg. She zoomed past Gross in the final 10 feet for a 1:51.50 win. Gross touched in at 1:51.64.

“I always tell Amanda, `Help me out, get us back into it.’ She’s a big help,” Laverdiere said.

“I like anchor,” she added. “If you’re behind, you get into racing someone and you **have** to go fast.”

Peterson also won two individual events, the 200 free (2:11.82) and the 100 butterfly (1:06.52).

Bernholz won the 200 IM and took five seconds off her 500 free time in a second-place finish. Hermansen sliced three seconds off her best 100 fly time.