BRUNSWICK

The Brunswick and Morse High School swim teams have found success on both the boys and girls side over the course of this year’s season.

In the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, both teams were forces to be reckoned with, as the Dragons swept the KVAC Class A Championships with a first-place finish for both the boys and the girls, while the Morse boys captured first in the KVAC Class B Championships, with the girls placing second right behind Camden Hills.

Also receiving honors was Brunswick’s Caitlin Tycz and her teammate Nate Samson, who each received Swimmers of the Meet on respective sides, while coach David Bright brought home Coach of the Meet.

On the Class B side, Morse’s Ann Tolan walked away with Swimmer of the Meet.

“It’s been real successful,” Bright said of both the Brunswick boys and girls squads. “One of the things that I look at is we had a lot of kids participate. I think we were able to provide a quality program for those kids. We won just about all of our meets and won the KVACs. Our kids at the top level, our fastest kids, have done some great things”

Both squads have found success with their team as a whole, but various standout swimmers might have otherwise led the way. Tycz has completion times ranked in the top 10 in all individual categories, including six No. 1 finishes. Tycz, while still rounding out her sophomore year, has already qualified for an All-American Award in the 100-yard butterfly event.

Samson has also shared similar success in Class A boys, finishing in the top 10 in all categories, registering five No. 1 finishes.

In Class B, Tolan has clocked in top-10 finishes, fast enough for 7-of-8 events, while having the 13th best time in the state in the 100 breaststroke. Camden Fitzgerald, Drew Ceglinski and Tucker Banger have spread the Shipbuilder boys across the board, with at least one of them registering a top-10 time in Class B, including Wesley McKenna’s seventh-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly in 56.26 seconds.

“Everyone qualifies for the state meet,” Morse High School swim coach Todd Marco said. “They bring hard work and dedication to practices, and when one person does well it trickles downhill so many other people do well.”

Eagles and Wolverines

Other area swim teams, including Mt. Ararat and Wiscasset, may not be located in the top tier, but both young squads give a promising look to the future.

Mt. Ararat senior Josh Furgeson leads the way for the Eagles, registering completion times in the top 30 percent and higher in five of the eight individual events, while freshman Devin Hoskins is already making a mark in the top 75 in three individual events.

For the Wolverines, junior Sam Storer and sophomore Colin Viele have found success, reaching the top 50 in multiple events.

The challenge throughout the season is always where to place athletes so they can qualify high enough in the State meet, as well as qualify for multiple events.

“We try as much as possible to get everyone in every event and over the course of the season we’ll try to change our lineup during every meet,” Bright said. “Ideally a lot of kids will swim every event at least once. I think you basically spend the season toying around with the lineup and trying different events and seeing what works. When you get to the end of the year you have all those options to pick from.”

“It’s sort of a guess-work type of process,” Marco said. “And, this year I think I guessed pretty well.”

With the State Championships around the corner, both coaches are shooting high for both squads, hoping to pick up big victories.

“For the boys, we’re looking to win,” Marco said. “And for the girls, if we can get in the top four or five that would be great. Class B girls is a real tough group.”

“In one sense, the goal is that you would like to have everyone have their best performance of the year,” Bright said. “On the boys side, we certainly want to be in the top three and it looks like it would be between Bangor and ourselves, while right now it looks like Cheverus is the pretty clear favorite. On the girls side, things are a lot more clustered together. Fourof five schools have a legitimate shot at winning the meet and we’d like to be right up there.”

The Class B boys championships will be held on Saturday (10:30 a.m.) at the University of Maine-Orono’s Stanley M. Wallace Pool, while the Class B girls will follow on Monday (9 a.m.). For the Class A boys, the State meet will take place at Bowdoin College’s Leroy Greason Pool on Monday, beginning at 10:30 a.m., with the Class A girls competing on Tuesday at the same time.

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