By Michael Hoffer
The swimming postseason began last weekend when the Portland Bulldogs competed against 12 other schools in the south division Southwesterns in Cape Elizabeth.
The boys had one of their finest showings in years, riding a 136-point performance to a fourth place finish. Massabesic came in first with 250.
Portland was fourth in the 400 freestyle relay. Junior Ian Leslie, sophomore Peter Tomascak, sophomore Ian Worden and freshman David Bliss had a time of 3:58.95. The Bulldogs also finished sixth in both the 200 medley (freshman Dylan Bruce, sophomore Jeff Peisner, senior Kevin Kirby and sophomore Will Dykes; 2:14.61) and 200 free (Tomascak, junior Alex Donatelle, junior Sean Dowling and Dykes; 1:50.46) relays.
Bliss led the way individually, finishing fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:16.87) and fourth in the breaststroke (1:09.63). Kyle Richards-Connolly had the fourth-best diving score (156.80. Max Dinsmore was fifth (133.10).
Worden placed fifth in the 100 free (57.57) and ninth in the 50 free (26.11). Lelsie was eighth in the 500 free (6:13.97) and 12th in the 200 free (2:21.66). Tomascak finished 11th in the 100 free (1:01.34). Simon Carroll placed 12th in the backstroke (1:17.54).

“The Portland boys rocked!” said Bulldogs’ coach Martha White. “We scored in every event we entered.  This was a huge accomplishment for us.  The swimmers dropped their times and the divers pulled off 11 dives despite a late start in the season and very limited board time.”
In the girls’ meet, won by Sanford with 204 points (one better than Kennebunk), the Bulldogs were 13th with 16 points.
Portland was 11th in the medley relay as freshman Mary Badger, sophomore Jenn Nguyen, senior Hannah Ciechomski and sophomore Sam Dow had a time of 2:31.78.
Individually, Ciechomski had a sixth-place finish in the backstroke (1:12.51) and an 11th-place showing in the 100 free (1:05.67). Badger came in 12th in the 50 free (29.10).

The girls did well too, with two of our four girls scoring in individual events,” White said. “Captain and senior, Hannah Ciechomski, was honored with a Southwestern Maine Swim Officials’ scholarship.”
Elsewhere, Deering wrapped up its regular season over the weekend. The boys downed both Westbrook (100-79) and Falmouth (137-27), while the Rams girls beat the Blue Blazes (113-36) but lost to the Yachtsmen (111-59).
Results for Cheverus’ home meet against Scarborough weren’t available.
The Stags and Rams, along with McAuley, will take part in the north division Southwesterns this Friday (boys) and Saturday (girls) in Westbrook. Friday’s meet begins at 5:30 p.m. The girls start at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net