BRUNSWICK — Ellsworth cruised to the team title at Tuesday’s Maine High School Boys Class B State Swimming and Diving Championships at Bowdoin College, but one Wells athlete came home with a state title.
Wells junior Nathaniel Hayward captured the gold in the diving event with a score of 328.85.
Kennebunk’s top individual finish came from Angus McLean, who took sixth in the 200 free with a time of (1.53.51). The Rams’ junior also placed sixth in the 500 free (5:13.15).
Jason Albaum, Alex Sullivan, and Andrew Zogg teamed up with Mclean in the 200 medley relay, where the group finished sixth at the 1:50.26 mark. Kennebunk finished eighth overall with 85 total points.
Morse junior Tucker Banger took second place and helped lead the Shipbuilders to a 197-point fifth place finish overall. Ellsworth dominated the event from the get-go, grabbing the lead in the opening race and never letting go en route to a 362- point win. Cape Elizabeth took second with 271.5 points, while Mount Desert Island came in third with 262.5. Old Town (207) finished fourth.
“I’m very proud of my team,” Banger said. “We won KVAC’s after losing a couple seniors last year. Didn’t think we were going to do that good at States, and got fifth. We’re going to be really good next year, I think.”
Banger’s time of 22.07 in the 50 free was less than a second behind Talor Hamilton of Ellsworth, who set the new meet record. It was Morse’s best finish on the day.
“That was good. That was a good finish there,” Morse coach Todd Marco said of Banger’s second place spot. “His 100 time was good too.”
Morse’s lead swimmer placed fourth in the 100 free with a time of 50.07, again behind Hamilton in first place.
“I felt pretty good,” Banger said. “Not my best in the 100, but still pretty good.”
Banger was also part of two fifth-place relay teams for Morse. First, in the 400 medley relay that closed the event, he teamed up with Camden Fitzgerald, Max Gurney, and Ben Willertz to grab the fifth spot with a time of 3:33.17. Then, in the 200 medley relay, he took the same spot in 1:47.28 with Gurney, Cameron Marco, and Patrick McKenna.
Ben Willertz took third (5:05.80) in the 500 free for the Shipbuilders, with Fitzgerald finishing just behind him in fourth (5:06.24).
“They did good,” Marco said. “We had good times across the board there, and some good time drops, so I’m pretty pleased with the day.”
Hamilton, who was part of four meet records on the day, headlined the event and brought Ellsworth its first-ever state swimming title.
His 50 free time of 21.19 was less than a second off the state record of 20.94 held by James Wells. The senior’s first-place time in the 100 free (46.42) was almost a full two seconds better than Camden Hills’ Kyle Crans’ time in second place, and set another meet record. He narrowly missed the new state record of 46.24, which was recently set by Brunswick’s Nate Samson.
Hamilton, along with Sam Alvarado, Camden Holmes, and Cooper Holmes, set his third meet record of the day in the 200 medley relay, where the team finished first with a time of 1:38.02. The time was also good for a new state record. The same foursome took home the first-place medal in the 400 medley relay (3:17.13) to close out their dominant day in the pool.
“He’s a fantastic swimmer,” Ellsworth coach Jim Goodman said of Hamilton. “I’ve had him for four years. I’ve known him since he was in my beginning swim class, and I’ve watched him progress. He’s done an awesome job, and he’ll be a great swimmer in college too.”
“It’s crazy,” Banger said of lining up next to Hamilton. “You get up next to him, he scares you he’s so tall. He goes all the way underwater. Scary.”
Other first-place finishes for Ellsworth include Alvarado in the 500 free (4:53.88), and Cooper Holmes in the 100 backstroke (52.51).
Alvarado also took second place in the 200 free (1:48.13), with Hayden Sattler taking the same spot in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.15), and Richie Matthews placing third in the 100 fly (54.83).
“I can’t tell you how proud I am,” Goodman said. “This is just a fantastic feeling for them. Excellent. They’ve all come down in times, and put out the very best effort.”
Mount Desert Island’s lone first-place medal came from Liam Sullivan, who narrowly topped Cooper Holmes in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 1:57.08.
Sullivan was also part of an MDI relay team (Jacob Mitchell, Pierce DiMauro, Hutchin Gerrish) that took second place in the 200 medley with a time of 1:41.82. Mitchell, DiMauro, Sullivan, and Kristoph Naggert finished second in the 400 medley relay (3:21.84).
Individually, DiMauro placed fourth in the 200 free (1:50.01) and sixth in the 100 free (50.40), while Gerrish took fourth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:08.53. DiMauro’s brother Bryce also placed second in the one-meter diving event, with a total score of 294.50.
Old Town had a pair of second-place finishes from Nick Gould, who swam the 100 backstroke in 55.42 and the 100 fly in 54.47.
The relay team of Drew St. Jean, Garret Stoyell, Jake Ketch, and Gould also grabbed second place in the 200 free, with a time of 1:32.22. Nate St. Jean, Stoyell, Gould, and Ketch finished fourth in the 200 medley relay, while Ketch took two top-five finishes individually – third in the 100 free (49.93), and fourth in the 50 free (22.85).
Camden Hills came in sixth place overall with 156 points, and Belfast was seventh with 113. Greely finished ninth (78) and in tenth was Yarmouth (74).
Other notables for Morse include Gurney finishing ninth in the 50 free (23.37), Dominic Marco finishing 15th in the 200 IM, and McKenna taking 10th in the 100 fly.
Like his girls side, Marco is pleased with Tuesday’s results, and only sees improvement for the future.
“We have no seniors, so we’ll have the same team next year,” he said. “Hopefully we can pick up a few more and everyone gets faster.”
Wiscasset’s Colin Veile placed 18th in the 100 free (53.74), and Sam Storer took 30th in the 100 backstroke (1:08.29).
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
