The Lady Storm claimed second at Class A States on Saturday, Feb. 13, finishing behind Brunswick and ahead of rivals Cheverus.

Scarborough head coach Eric French lauded many of his girls, but nodded especially to Charlotte Pratt, Hannah Griffin, Emma MacDonald and Jane Greenberg. “Those girls scored the most points,” French said, “and all are (underclassmen).”

French remarked on many of his girls’ events, telling the story of how the Storm earned their finish. Of the 200 Medley Relay, he said: “We couldn’t load that race with our top girls and hope to finish any higher than fourth. So we mixed and matched four girls that we knew could do the job, and held onto sixth place.” Cheverus won the event.

The 200 Free was “the Hannah and Emma Show,” he said. Griffin finished fourth and MacDonald fifth. In the 100 Free, Griffin and Greenberg finished third and fourth, and in the 500 Free, MacDonald took third.

The 100 Back proved central to the Storm’s success. French’s girls assembled a surprise performance that helped lift them onto the podium at the end of the day.

“[The Backstroke] won it,” said French. “Seeded to score just one point, we scored two girls. Anna was seeded 29th and dropped four seconds. That moved her past 15 girls to 14th. Megan, the 16-seed, moved up to 11th. That was eight points we didn’t have before.” Cheverus’s Abby Longstaff finished first.

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The 100 Breast featured yet another Scarborough rivalry with Cheverus: Pratt vs. the Lady Stags’ Caroline Arpin. “Caroline nudged Charlotte out of first,” French said. Both girls swam personal bests, however, and the margin between them was extremely slim – .05 seconds.

The 400 Free Relay outfit – Pratt, Greenberg, MacDonald and Griffin, a foursome for the first time all day – capped the competition with more points.

“Charlotte was first,” French said, “and going for the school record in the 100 Free.” Pratt beat the standing Scarborough mark with a 55.24. “Then we have Jane that goes 56.67, followed by Emma at 56.71, and last – with her fastest split ever, 54.80 – Hannah.”

The squad crushed the previous school record (3:47.15, set in 2005) by almost two and a half seconds. Their 3:44.94 put them second to Brunswick in the event.

“Great meet by all,” said French. “I guess my quote of the night was, ‘Ladies, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.’” Seems his girls took that to heart.

The Lady Storm surround head coach Eric French, who holds aloft the team’s second-place plaque after Saturday’s Class A State Championship meet in Orono.


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