ORONO — The meet had already been decided, but with three years of dominance about to be made official, the Cape Elizabeth boys’ swimming team wanted the proper ending as it got ready for the 400-yard freestyle relay – the final event of the Class B championships.

“I was thinking in my head, ‘We have to finish on a win,'” senior Cormac McKenney said.

The Capers did, with McKenney surging into the lead on the third leg and David Steinbrick closing out the victory. It was the final exclamation point on an afternoon full of them Monday, as Cape Elizabeth rolled to its third straight Class B title with 436 points, well ahead of Morse (301), Mt. Desert Island (278), Ellsworth (272) and Greely (263) at the University of Maine’s Stanley M. Wallace Pool.

Belfast (169), Yarmouth (91.5), Waterville/Winslow (85.5) and Camden Hills (73) rounded out the top eight teams. Northern Penobscot and John Bapst/Hermon (68) tied for ninth.

“We don’t always have a lot of meets (during the regular season), so it’s always ‘How’s it going to go?'” said Steinbrick, who was named Performer of the Meet after he won the 200 and 500 free in addition to anchoring the winning 200 and 400 relay teams. “We always do what we need to do, but it’s really the team that does it. We train hard, and then we’ve got to execute.”

Cape Elizabeth won the previous two years by 36 and 64 points, but with its core four leading the way – seniors Steinbrick, McKenney and Jack McCormick, and junior Graham Plourde – the Capers were even harder to catch this time.

That quartet started the day with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:38.29) and closed it with its victory in the 400 free relay (3:18.38). In between, they won five individual events. Steinbrick successfully defended his 200 free title (1:45.81) and won the 500 free (4:37.32), McKenney repeated as champion in the 100 fly (51.99) and 100 breast stroke (59.37), and Plourde repeated as the 200 IM winner (2:01.59).

“It’s super special. We’ve been swimming together forever,” McKenney said. “When we were eighth graders, we were looking at all the school records and stuff, and thinking ‘When we get to senior year, we’re going to go after these.'”

The four finished in style. Cape Elizabeth was trailing Morse by three seconds after the first two legs, but McKenney stormed back to take the lead and hand it off to Steinbrick.

“Cormac, clutch. That’s all I can say,” Steinbrick said. “That’s one of the best relay legs I think I’ve ever seen.”

It was an appropriate end as well for Steinbrick, who went from being a 100 and 200 free champion to prevailing in the distance test of the 500 free. His time was nearly 21 seconds faster than that of his teammate, runner-up Weston Lowe (4:58.26).

“I’m more of a distance swimmer than I am a sprinter, so the 500’s a bit easier for me,” Steinbrick said. “Last year, I was really kind of uptight about the 100 and the 200. This year, I was just a little more in my element.”

Cape Elizabeth also got a diving victory from Logan McVeigh (321.7). Plourde was second in the 100 fly, McCormick was second in the 100 back and fourth in the 50 free, and senior Seamus Jennings (diving) and freshmen Spencer Shaw (200 IM) and Will Harmon (500 free) had fourth-place finishes. The 200 free relay team of Logan Schwartz, Tiger McCormick, Shaw and Lowe finished second.

“It’s a really special group, especially the seniors who have … been instrumental in having this (be) one of our larger number of boys qualify,” Coach Ben Raymond said. “They are going to leave a legacy of some really quality swimming, but more importantly, they leave the program better than when they started here.”

First-place finishes also went to Morse’s Gaffney McDonough (50 free, 22.01) and Sawyer Wright (100 free, 49.23), and MDI got wins from the 200 free relay team (1:33.40) and from sophomore Patrick Saltysiak, who edged McCormick in the 100 backstroke at 54.81.

Saltysiak, who was seeded second behind McCormick by one hundredth of a second, couldn’t catch him during the opening medley relay, but made sure the second race went his way.

“He did get me in that one. … Thirty minutes before my race, I started to lock in. Didn’t talk to anyone, just focused on the race,” said Saltysiak, who was also second in the 200 IM. “From the beginning of the season, definitely, my goal was to get this.”

For Morse, Wright also took second in the 200 free, and David Mitchell (50 free, 500 free) and McDonough (100 fly) notched third-place finishes. Greely got third-place finishes from Ike Barr (200 IM, 100 breaststroke) and Thomas Leggat-Barr (100 backstroke).

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