State records usually fall, not surprisingly, at state championship meets.

Swimmers are tapered. Bleachers are packed. Tensions are heightened.

Sure, on occasion, a record falls at a conference meet or at the always-exciting Southwesterns, which get under way tonight in Westbrook and continue next weekend in Cape Elizabeth. More on that later.

So when four girls from Cape Elizabeth combined to take down the 200-yard medley relay state record in a dual meet with Falmouth last month, it attracted some notice.

Hannah Homans led off with a 27.62 second backstroke. Heather Kraft followed with a 30.29 breast stroke. Sydney Wight swam a 26.74 butterfly. Gabrielle Cloutier anchored with a 25.54 freestyle for a combined time of 1:50.19 that is 4 seconds faster than that of any other school this winter.

Only two other Class A schools — Bangor and Messalonskee — and three Class B schools — Mt. Desert Island, Greely and Waynflete — have broken 2 minutes in the medley relay.

But a tip of the bathing cap must go to Allison Rand of Falmouth, who swam the butterfly stroke in an adjacent lane. When the Cape swimmers broke the 9-year-old mark, their celebration was short-lived because a lane judge reported a disqualification for failure to touch the wall with two hands.

Cape Elizabeth Coach Ben Raymond was positive his butterflyer, Wight, had made a legal touch, and several anxious minutes passed before Rand figured out what was going on and stepped forward to report seeing the judge in her lane raising a hand as Rand reached the wall.

“She said, ‘I think they meant to disqualify me,’ ” Falmouth Coach Dave Cox said. “She was a little off with her timing. She thought she might have gone in leading with one hand more than the other.”

The officials eventually realized they had the lanes mixed up — three is four if you start counting from the wrong side of a six-lane pool — and discounted any disqualification. The new state record stands.

“It was all very confusing,” Raymond said, “but in the end the correct call was made and everything worked out.”

NOT ONLY are swim officials human, they are humane. Particularly in this area, where all 25 active members of the Southern Maine Swim Officials Association will work some or all of the Southwestern meets over the next two weekends.

Officials will donate their fees — along with all other proceeds of the meets — to fund 10 scholarships for graduating seniors.

The North Southwesterns feature 10 schools tonight (boys) and Saturday (girls) in Westbrook. The South Southwesterns, with 16 schools, are scheduled for next weekend in Cape Elizabeth.

Traditionally the North Division is the more competitive meet, but in recent years the South has gained in strength.

This weekend Greely will attempt to defend both boys’ and girls’ titles, with the Cheverus boys and Cape Elizabeth girls presenting the top challenges.

There are no trials and swimmers can compete in only three events (typically two individual races and one relay). The relays are nearly always exciting and several individual races appear intriguing.

The boys’ 100 free features Evan Long of Cape Elizabeth, Reed Fernandez of Cheverus and the defending swimmer of the meet, Shaun Lamoureux of Falmouth. In the 100 breast, Greely’s Jonathan Dunnett goes up against Lars Murphy and Drew Fernandez of Cheverus; all three have seed times within seven-tenths of a second.

In the girls’ meet Saturday, Wight of Cape Elizabeth and Sara Schad of Greely have the same seed time (1:01.63) in the 100 butterfly. In the 50 free, Schad and Cape Elizabeth’s Homans are only five-hundredths apart and in the 100 free, Sarah Easterling of Greely has a slight edge over Kraft of Cape Elizabeth.

Kraft may also challenge two-time defending Class A champion Genevieve Worthley of Deering in the 100 breast.

IF YOU WERE wondering about the oldest Southwesterns record, this weekend marks the 30th anniversary of Dewey Wyatt’s 59.83 swim for Greely in the 100 breast.

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:

gjordan@pressherald.com

Twitter: GlennJordanPPH