Cony's Miguel Aguirre swims the freestyle during practice on Wednesday in Augusta. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

In high school swimming meets, a relay race is worth double the points compared to an individual race. That’s why coaches work all season to craft the perfect combination of swimmers in a relay team.

There are three relays in Maine high school swimming: the 200-yard freestyle, 400 freestyle and 200 individual medley. Relay teams are comprised of four swimmers.

Scott Morrison, who coaches the Edward Little/Lewiston/Leavitt/Poland co-op team, said it’s common for coaches to change their relay teams throughout the season, in part to keep competitors guessing.

“I want to have a decent time that gets me in the top eight, so that when we go to states we’re in the fastest heat,” Morrison said. “I don’t need to play my fastest race. Everyone in the world knows who my fastest ones are, because they can see through the course of the year, and if they do the math, they can figure it out.”

Lineups, strategy and more

Speed, starting positions, ability to close gaps and competitive nature all factor into which swimmers secure the four spots in a relay squad. Furthermore, the amount of rest time between heats affects which swimmers compete when.

On the Edward Little co-op, Morrison relies on Leavitt senior Chase Leonardo to start the relays because he is one of the fastest on the team.

The first swimmers into the pool for the 200 IM have a “flat start,” meaning they don’t dive into the water to gain momentum. Leonardo said it’s beneficial for the leadoff backstrokers to have clean water to push through, as it’s challenging to learn the technique of generating momentum by himself.

“It’s just about having fun and enjoying it,” Leonardo said. “It’s cool to win, it’s cool to get all these winning times and stuff, but I’m there just to have fun.”

Edward Little senior Jack Martel talks with Edward Little/Lewiston/Leavitt/Poland co-op coach Scott Morrison. Martel swims on the 200 free relay team. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

In the 200 free, Leonardo is joined by Edward Little senior Jack Martel, Leavitt junior Matthew Tabet and Poland senior Cam Lemieux. Morrison called Leonardo “by far the fastest swimmer, across the board.” Martel, Lemieux and Tabet are interchangeable with skills and speed, allowing Morrison to swap the order.

Cony coach Bob Johnston said it’s taken six attempts to form his fastest relay teams. Like Morrison, the veteran coach relies on statistics to determine who swims where.

“We have a statistician that we pay every year and all the results are posted and put together (in) these top times lists,” Johnston said. “It’s taken a bunch of tweaking, and you just keep switching people around until you finally come up with a good combination.”

Relationships matter

At Cony, Johnston said he already knew which four girls would be in his relays, but it took some time to determine who should swim which leg. The strokes in the 200 IM are always up for grabs. The 200 IM relay includes senior Emily Kennard (backstroke), sophomore Emily Foster (breaststroke), senior Anabelle Orth (butterfly) and sophomore Lilliana Choate (freestyle or butterfly).

“They’ve developed over the last four years,” Johnston said. “Emily Kennard has been a multiple state champion in a number of events. Anabelle and Lilliana have (also) been on state champion relays.”

With a laugh, Johnston said the only guarantee is that Foster won’t swim butterfly, because “she’d give me the most sour look you could imagine, she hates the butterfly.” The four swimmers came up through an age-group program in Cony, joining the Rams with plenty of prior experience.

“I’ve been swimming since I was 8 for KVY (Kennebec Valley YMCA), but now I’m just swimming for Cony,” Kennard said. “Last year, I had a shoulder injury, so I had to step back a little bit from swimming. Our team for Cony has grown a lot over four years; we went from like five swimmers, to now we have 20.”

Cony’s Anabelle Orth swims warm up laps prior to a practice Wednesday in Augusta. Ort, a senior, swims the butterfly on Cony’s 200 IM relay team. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Kennard, who will swim for Husson University, is usually first or last to take off in a relay.

“I think going last has way more pressure on it, because it feels like it’s all your fault if it goes wrong,” Kennard said. “Going first is also hard, because you have to lead off and get a lead, and if you don’t, team morale can go down a little bit. It’s important to have a good first leg.”

Her relationship with Choate, Foster and Orth is what makes the quartet successful. Kennard said the four have been swimming together since they were 7 or 8 and have logged hours of practice with one another, specifically on takeoffs.

In the 200 IM relay, Lewiston junior Klara Cloutier is the first swimmer into the pool for the EL co-op. Edward Little junior Lillian Merritt, Lewiston senior Gabby Roy and Edward Little junior Maddie Hawley follow.

“When I think about Gabby Roy, I love having her at the end of the relay, whether it’s fly or freestyle,” Morrison said. “I mean, she’s very quiet, she’s shy, but she is so driven competitively, and she can get the most out of the other girls on that relay.”

Roy’s favorite stroke is butterfly, because she loves to work with a good lead set by the first two swimmers.

“There’s definitely a bunch of pressure, but our relay team is really good about staying positive, so it’s always nice, you know, that even if it’s not the best race, everyone’s still going to support you,” Roy said.

With depth comes competition 

The Deering/Portland co-op team features a large freshmen class, and coach Sarah Rasmussen said there’s intense competition to earn one of the relay spots.

Deering/Portland swimming coach Sarah Rasmussen talks with Kaia West during practice at the Reiche Community Pool in Portland on Dec. 16. The RamDogs are the defending Class A girls state champions. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

“It’s a huge advantage, because it gives us options, especially on our girls side,” Rasmussen said. “We have the capacity to move people around in a way that we don’t feel fixed or stuck in any one situation. I think that’s a really powerful thing.”

Rasmussen said it took five or six meets to get to know some of the younger swimmers’ abilities.

“It means a lot to us to know someone is going to be a good competitor on a relay, because it’s more than just simply technique or speed,” she said. “There’s a component to put someone on a relay that is experienced and that (has) competitive fire.”

Deering senior Anya Heiden, Portland freshman Charlotte Donaldson-Michaelis, Deering senior Kaia West and Portland freshman Amelia MacDonald swim on the 400 relay for the reigning Class A champions.

Arranging alternates

Morrison, Johnston and Rasmussen all noted that alternate swimmers can be switched in at any moment.

Johnston has two boys swimmers with loads of experience ­— Eli Burnham and Raiden Ramkissoon. Matteo Hardy and Reid DeJongh join those two for the 200 IM relay. Johnston said the focus is less on closing the gap, and more on giving swimmers the ability to learn new skills and excel in their specialties.

Portland/Deering’s 400 free boys relay includes Mason Meas, Izzy Das, Louis Lowrey and Marco Cifuentes Robles. With two freshmen and two seniors, the group pairs experience with younger energy. Rasmussen said she’s excited to watch them compete together in a state meet.

“We’ve worked really hard to build a culture of what it looks like to be a RamDog, so we’ve built that culture (three) years ago, when these seniors were freshmen, and as we have a big group of freshmen coming in this year, they’ve just been integral in making sure that the freshmen understand what it’s like to be a part of this team,” Rasmussen said. “It’s been so fluid and so cohesive.”