This year, Lindsey Prelgovisk learned she’d like to attend college close to home after all. She won a state title in an event she hadn’t tried in three years, and she won a pair of titles at the New England swimming championships.

But when she thinks back to her senior year at Messalonskee High School, Prelgovisk will remember being a key member of a Messalonskee team that won its first Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A title this season, and finished second to Bangor at the Class A state meet.

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Messalonskee High School senior Lindsey Prelgovisk is the Morning Sentinel Girls Swimmer of the Year. Photo by Michael G. Seamans

“We’ve been dreaming about this since we were freshmen. We were like ‘Oh, when we’re seniors we’ll have a great team.’ We’d always planned that we’d have a great team,” Prelgovisk said. “First ever (swimming) banner for our school.”

Prelgovisk’s individual and team accomplishments capped a strong high school swimming career. She leaves Messalonskee holding every individual swimming record with the exception of one, the 100 breaststroke, held by her sister, Kristy Prelgovisk, who just completed her freshman season of swimming.

“I hope (Kristy) breaks the records. That’d be great for her. That means she’s swimming faster,” Lindsey said.

For the third time in four years, Lindsey Prelgovisk is the Morning Sentinel Girls Swimmer of the Year. Prelgovisk earned the honor as a freshman, and again last year.

“She just had an amazing year,” Messalonskee swimming coach Tom Sheridan said. “Her work ethic is just so good. Every year, she just gets a little more confident.”

Prelgovisk was a member of Messalonksee’s state championship 400-yard freestyle relay team, and she won an individual title in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 55.98 seconds. Prelgovisk returned to the 200 free this season after not competing in the event since she was a freshman.

“I never thought I was actually going to be good at that… It’s one of those races you have to practice over and over until you get the hang of it. It’s not long enough to pace yourself, but it’s not short enough to sprint it all,” Prelgovisk said. “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to keep that happy medium. It ended up being a really good event for me.”

Added Sheridan: “She’s very versatile. She can swim anything.”

At the New England championships at Bates College in Lewiston, Prelgovisk took championships in the 200 free (1:58.44) and 100 backstroke (58.77).

“I was excited to swim there. I was going into the day saying, ‘this is my last high school meet ever, I just want to have fun and swim very well,’ ” Prelgovisk said.

An accomplished dancer, Prelgovisk sees dance practice as a way to cross train for swimming.

“We do a bunch of calf raises in dance, and ab workouts. We also do multiple leaps and jumps and we’re constantly turning and up on our toes. That really helps my calf muscles and my quads, for my flip turns in swimming and when I dive off the blocks,” Prelgovisk said. “Some swimmers, they come and they swim and they go home. They’re not getting any of the dry land workout, working their muscles on a different physical level.”

Prelgovisk will be back at Bates next year as a student. When she started the college selection process, Prelgovisk thought she wanted to attend school out of state. Last summer, she and her mother went on a two week road trip, visiting 13 colleges in two weeks, traveling all the way to Washington, D.C. When they returned, Prelgovisk’s mother suggested Lindsey check out Bates.

“I went on a tour and I was like ‘Wow.’ I’ve only seen the pool. I didn’t know what the building were like. I just fell in love with the campus,” Prelgovisk said.

In the first week of April, Prelgovisk will compete at the national championships in Greensboro, N.C. She’s qualified in four events: 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly, 200 free and 50 free.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

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