Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

February 21, 2012

Class B boys' swimming: Finish is kick for Greely

The Rangers all but clinch the title in the trials, then go all out in the finals to dominate the field.

By Glenn Jordan gjordan@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

BRUNSWICK — If any doubts lingered from the morning trials as to the dominant team in the Class B boys' swimming and diving championships, Greely needed less than two minutes to erase them.

Actually, it only took 1 minute and 40.84 seconds.

That's the meet record for the 200-yard medley relay and it came courtesy of four Greely swimmers -- sophomores Griffin Fluet and Jonathan Dunnett, and seniors Evan Campbell and Dan Spencer -- in the opening event of the championship trials Monday night at Leroy Greason Pool on the campus of Bowdoin College.

Halfway through the race, with the backstroke and breast strokes exhausted, the two-time defending state champion Rangers trailed Mt. Desert Island, winner of the previous six state titles.

Not that Spencer, the anchor, was concerned. He watched Dunnett's butterfly leg erase the gap so Spencer could hit the water first of all the freestylers.

"We knew Jonathan would bring it back in the fly," Spencer said. "The thing that kept going through my head was, 'We've come this far, might as well make it worth something.' "

Considering the mark also surpassed a Greely High record that had stood for 31 years, yeah, it seemed a worthwhile endeavor.

"It just feels good to come back from behind," said Dunnett.

As does returning home to Cumberland with another state championship plaque, the third in succession for the Rangers, who outdistanced runner-up Belfast by a whopping 386 to 254. MDI was third with 217 followed by Waterville (186), Ellsworth (171), Falmouth (170) and 18 other schools.

Foxcroft Academy junior Cameron Fadley was named outstanding performer of the meet for winning the 100 breast stroke (1:01:01) and 200 individual medley (1:57.39).

Spencer (50 and 100 free) and Ellsworth senior Keith Chandler (100 butterfly and 100 back) also won two individual events, and Spencer anchored the winning medley and 400 free relays.

MDI won the 200 free relay and junior Ross Johnston claimed the 200 free in 1:48.21. Falmouth freshman Jake Perron held off Waynflete junior Luke Jeton by one second in 4:56.30 and Falmouth senior Ryan Conley won his third straight diving state title with 350.15 points.

It was Greely's depth that proved insurmountable.

"Coming in, on paper, we had a comfortable lead, so there was no sense of urgency," said Greely Coach Rob Hale.

"But they swam like there was."

Indeed, the Rangers scored at least 20 points in every swimming event and added 15 in diving with senior Isaak Emery grabbing fourth of the five qualifiers. A dozen different swimmers scored non-relay points and all but two scored in two individual races.

Six swimmers -- Spencer, Campbell, Dunnett, sophomores Connor Russell and Jack Benoit and freshman Ryan Plante -- qualified for the championship finals in two events.

They made big drops in the morning trials to lock in evening points.

Russell, for example, lopped 6 seconds off his seed time to grab the eighth and final slot in the 200 free championship finals, guaranteeing eighth place and 11 points no matter how fast anyone in the consolation finals swam.

"My job was to go all out in the morning," said Russell, whose evening time, indeed, was slower than that of two consolation swimmers.

The goal at night, he said, was "to see what I had left."

In the 200 individual medley, Dunnett finished second to Fadley but in a time of 1:59.23. Only once in school history had another Greely swimmer broken the two-minute barrier in the IM.

"That was insane," said Campbell. "When he did it, I couldn't stop cheering. It was amazing. With all the stroke changes, it's tough to go under two, and he's only a sophomore.

"It speaks to how much effort he's put in this year. The whole team has. And it's just paid off huge amounts."

Dunnett took down another school record, this one set in 1979 by Louis Dearborn, with a runner-up finish of 53.51 to Chandler's 52.59 in the butterfly.

"We knew coming in that it was a blowout," Hale said, "but they weren't complacent. They wanted to perform well."

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:
gjordan@pressherald.com
Twitter: GlennJordanPPH

 

Tweet