BRUNSWICK — Shane Moore has been around a pool a few times, so when it comes to the state meet he rarely pays attention to the overall score until two thirds of the events are complete.

“Especially with us not having divers,” said Moore, a senior at Cheverus High, “it can fluctuate a lot. So I feel like up until the 200 free (relay), we’re just getting a base.”

On Monday afternoon at Bowdoin College’s packed Greason Pool, it was the 200-yard freestyle relay – the ninth of 12 events – where Cheverus moved past Brunswick by half a point to take control of what would become a fifth consecutive Class A boys’ swimming and diving state championship.

The Stags wound up needing only to finish sixth in the concluding 400 free relay to clinch the title and placed third to finish with 286.5 points. Bangor made up a 15-point deficit in the final relay to earn the runner-up plaque, 258-253, over Brunswick.

Thornton Academy, in the best showing in school history, was fourth at 222 followed by Scarborough (208), Waterville/Winslow (153.5), South Portland (143), Falmouth (113) and 15 other schools.

Moore earned Performer of the Meet honors after setting a meet record of 21.28 seconds in the 50 free and winning the 100 free by more than two seconds in 46.64. As the state’s fastest sprinter, anchor would seem his appropriate relay leg, but Cheverus Coach Kevin Haley placed Moore in second position in the 200 free relay.

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Sophomore Phineas Underwood led off and returned to the wall nearly a full second behind Thornton Academy. Moore hit the water and more than made up the difference. His 21.19 split gave Cheverus a second and a half edge on Thornton Academy and, more importantly, three seconds on Brunswick.

“It’s great to be leading and in first and feeling confident,” Moore said, “but I think it makes everybody swim faster when you’ve got someone to catch. You know what I mean?”

Freshman Quintin Hastings and senior Gustav Anderson remained in front the rest of the way and the Stags clocked in at 1:30.64. Brunswick edged Thornton Academy by two tenths for second, in 1:32.20.

Cheverus extended its lead when seniors Ben Tompkins and Raymond Le placed sixth and 11th in the 100 backstroke and Brunswick could manage no better than 17th, just out of scoring range. Anderson took sixth in the 100 breast to give the Stags a 15.5-point cushion on Brunswick and 30.5 on Bangor into the 400 free relay.

Haley told his final four – Underwood, Hastings, freshman Chase Cameron and Tompkins – to delay their starts on every leg in order to be sure of avoiding disqualification.

“We call them safe starts,” Haley said. “Not necessarily the fastest splits, but to get a state championship, we needed them to finish.”

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Only Cheverus placed among the top three in each relay, having led off with third in the 200 medley relay. Other than Moore, only Tompkins (200 individual medley), Underwood (50 free) and Cameron (500 free) placed among the top five individually, each of them taking a fifth.

“We graduated 95 percent of our talent but this team has really stepped up,” Haley said. “All these supporting cast roles poured their hearts and souls into this.”

Bangor opened the meet with a state record in the 200 medley relay. Freshman Carson Prouty (backstroke), junior Colby Prouty (breast), junior Payton Campbell (butterfly) and senior Sam Carlson (freestyle) won by more than three seconds in 1:37.61.

Like Moore, Falmouth senior Connor Perron and Colby Prouty of Bangor were double winners. Perron swept the 200 and 500 free, in 1:47.05 and 4:46.94, respectively. Prouty won the 200 individual medley (1:58.42) and 100 breast (57.74).

Other individual winners Monday were Bucksport junior Anthony Wardwell (339.30 points in diving), Thornton Academy junior Eli Steward (53.65 in 100 butterfly) and Bangor’s Carson Prouty (53.11 in 100 backstroke).

Steward is believed to be his school’s first individual swimming state champion since Todd Pottier won the 50 free in 1999. Steward also anchored TA’s first-ever relay winner, the 400 free in 3:22.27.

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“That was a pretty cool way to finish it off,” Steward said.

Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or

Gjordan@pressherald.com

Twitter: GlennJordanPPH


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