CAPE ELIZABETH — Scarborough senior Kyle Ankermann developed an unusual ritual for the annual North Southwestern Boys’ Swimming & Diving Championships, which serve as a prelude to the state meets.

He shaves a superhero logo into his chest hair.

Sophomore year, it was Superman. Junior year, Batman.

“This year I did The Flash,” said Ankermann, sporting a mohawk haircut, Clark Kent spectacles and a long Red Storm parka. “It kind of has a double meaning, because it keeps up with my superhero tradition and it’s also a lightning bolt for Storm.”

Ankermann earned Performer of the Meet honors Monday after winning the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races in a most unusual Southwesterns that, because of weather-related travel concerns, included only three of the eight schools that regularly compete.

Among the five missing was three-time defending champion Cheverus, a single-digit favorite on paper against host Cape Elizabeth. Greely, Falmouth, Westbrook and Deering also remained home while only Cape Elizabeth and its two nearest neighbors, Scarborough and South Portland, carried on.

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The Capers won with 426 points to 389 for Scarborough and 306 for South Portland.

“I feel bad for them, I do,” Ankermann said of all the swimmers who missed out on the meet. “It’s unfortunate that the weather had to do this.”

The Southwestern Maine Swim Officials, who run the meet as a fundraiser for their annual scholarships, decided to proceed rather than postpone to Tuesday, fearing another potential snow day.

Meet director Tandy Ratfliff said she asked all eight athletic directors to get back to her about their plans but by 1 p.m. had heard back only from Greely. Meanwhile, the meet director for the South Southwesterns, scheduled for the same time (5 p.m.) in South Portland with 13 schools involved, canceled at 1:30 p.m. Both meets already had been postponed from Friday because of snow.

“I felt like I was between a rock and a hard place,” Ratliff said. “Cape would have given us the pool for (Tuesday) but what if there was no school (Tuesday) because of the snow? … I struggled with it. We decided to run it with the teams that were here.”

Besides Ankermann, other double winners were senior Alex Mukai (200 and 500 free), sophomore Sam Loring (200 individual medley, 100 breast stroke) and freshman Oliver Kraft (100 butterfly, 100 backstroke), all from Cape Elizabeth.

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Cape Elizabeth won the 200 medley and 200 free relays and Scarborough won the 400 free relay.

“We knew we still had some great competition out there,” said Ankermann, whose team briefly took a one-point lead over Cape Elizabeth after sweeping the top three spots in the 100 free with junior Drew Simoneau and senior John Pillsbury finishing second and third. “Kyle Long and Alex Mukai from Cape Elizabeth – phenomenal swimmers. Caleb Cram and Sam Goodine from South Portland, also phenomenal swimmers.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a championship of eight teams competing or if it’s a championship of three teams competing, we all came out here tonight. We all swam. We all scored. We all did our best. That’s all you can do for a championship meet.”

Cheverus Coach Kevin Haley implored officials to postpone the meet until Tuesday. He said he felt for athletes from the five missing schools who were close to state qualifying times and now won’t have the chance, like Scarborough sophomore Kemal Durdag, whose opening leg of the 200 free relay earned him a berth in the Class A 50 free.

“I’m saddened that they went ahead with the meet,” Haley said. “But I wish Cape nothing but the best and congratulate them. Well coached team and talented athletes.”

Greely Coach Rob Hale lamented the missed opportunity for athletes who showed up to cheer – some wearing togas and laurel wreaths – during the girls’ Southwesterns on Saturday.

“I had kids who do not normally participate in a championship atmosphere miss out on a life memory,” he said. “The way this meet is structured, everyone contributes.”

“We got a competitive meet (Monday) anyway,” Cape Elizabeth Coach Ben Raymond said. “It just lacked some of the intensity and enthusiasm of, say, the girls’ meet on Saturday.”


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