Maine YMCA Swimming had to do some last-minute scrambling to come up with a pool acceptable to national YMCA standards for the 1993 John W. Coombs Memorial Maine YMCA State Swimming Championship, which will be held in Bangor Saturday and Sunday.

Nearly 1,000 swimmers will now converge at the Husson College Pool in Bangor for the event originally set for the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool in Orono.

“The national YMCA would not sanction a meet where any child dove into less than five feet of water,” explained Doug Springer of the Old Town-Orono YMCA who, with Al Martin, coordinates competitive swimming for the YMCA in Maine.

“At Maine, we would have to make an adaptation to go meters, but at Husson we asked them, and they actually moved the starting blocks from one place to another to meet the requirement.”

The state age-group championships open Saturday with the 10-and-under boys at 9 a.m. The 11-and-up afternoon session begins at 1 p.m. The girls come in Sunday following the same schedule.

The two-day meet is expected to be an excellent one, with several state titles and records on the line.

Long Reach Swim Club/Bath Area Family YMCA will defend its 1992 title against 13 other programs including Canoe City Swim Club/Old Town-Orono YMCA; Mount Desert Island YMCA of Bar Harbor; Camden Area YMCA; Kennebec Valley YMCA of Augusta; Auburn-Lewiston YMCA; Portland YMCA; Bangor YMCA; Boothbay Region YMCA; Northern York County Family YMCA of Biddeford; Piscataquis Regional YMCA of Dover-Foxcroft; Waldo County YMCA of Belfast; Waterville Area YMCA; and Down East Family YMCA of Ellsworth, making its first appearance in a state championship.

Among the boys’ headliner races will be the 10-and-under medley relay. Portland YMCA is seeded at 2 minutes, 18.52 seconds, matching the state record held by Piscataquis YMCA. A close race is expected in the 10-and-under 200-yard freestyle relay. Long Reach holds that record of 2:06.59, but broke it during the regular season at 2:06.01.

Kieran Young, Auburn-Lewiston YMCA, is seeded at 1:26.90 in the 8-and-under individual medley, matching the record held by Marshall Farnham of Boothbay. In that same age division for the 25-yard butterfly, Ian Crocker, Piscataquis, holds the state record at 17.58 seconds, and Chris Card, Bath, is seeded at 17.60. Derek Anton, Long Reach, will defend his 32.48 record in the 10-and-under 50 butterfly.

For the girls, Canoe City’s 1988 record of 2:22.23 in the 10-and-under 200-yard medley relay will be challenged by Auburn-Lewiston, seeded at 2:22.86.

In the 8-and-under 25-yard freestyle, Monica Morin of Auburn-Lewiston holds the record of 15.04, but Stefanie Goulet of Northern York is seeded at that time. The only other swimmer seeded under 16.00 is Kaitlin Kelley of Piscataquis, entered at 15.81.

Kristin Veal of Long Reach set the girls 8-and-under 25-yard butterfly record of 15.67 in ’88, but Goulet has beaten that mark and comes in seeded at 15.37. Camden Area YMCA state record-holder Sarah Gallager is seeded at her record time of 19.99 in the 8-and-under 25-yard breaststroke.

Canoe City set the state record in the 14-and-under girls 200-yard medley relay and is seeded at 1:59.59. Debbie Godsoe of Canoe City is seeded at 25.44 in the 13-14 girls 50-yard freestyle and will try to break the record (25.26) set by Karen Dionne of Long Reach back in 1981.

Hillary Russell, Long Reach, matches Erin Fisher’s 1.03.65 state record for the senior 100-yard butterfly, and Guerin Anglim, Long Reach, is seeded at 54.25 in the senior girls 100-yard freestyle where Carrie Swan of Piscataquis set the record in 1991 at 54.47.

A tight race could develop between MDI’s Nellie Fox (1:00.66) and Long Reach’s Michelle Muccino (1:01.55) to break the 1:01.74 record held by Trina Smith of Canoe City in the senior girls 100-yard backstroke.