BATH — The Morse boys swimming team left no doubt of its Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference dominance on Friday night.
The Shipbuilders broke three state records, including in the meet’s opening race, on their way to a fourth straight KVAC Class B championship at the Bath Area Family YMCA.
The 200-yard medley relay team of senior Sawyer Wright, junior Brady Chubbuck, senior Gaffney McDonough and senior David Mitchell finished in 1 minute, 35.32 seconds to give Morse its first win of the night and a certain level of confidence for the rest of the evening.
“We love to go hard in the first event,” first-year Morse coach Spencer Hallowell said. “It sets the tone for the rest of the meet. Positive attitude, positive vibes, and then everyone just swims fast after that.”
A Shipbuilder finished first in 10 of the meet’s 12 events, which featured swimmers from both Class A and B teams combined in each race. Morse’s 396 points were good enough to claim the Class B title over Belfast (330) and Waterville/Winslow (153).
Edward Little/Lewiston/Leavitt/Poland claimed its fourth straight Class A title with 299 points, beating Mt. Ararat/Brunswick (199) and Messalonskeee/Skowhegan/Nokomis/Lawrence (196). For EL co-op coach Scott Morrison, the winning feeling doesn’t get old.
“Every year, I look at the competition that we’re swimming against and I’m like, ‘How do we win again?'” Morrison said. “Actually, there’s more pressure to win once you’ve started a winning way. I just have an amazing, amazing group of athletes.”
Morrison said the mix of Class A and B swimmers brought the best out of his team and the entire field. McDonough, who was named the Class B swimmer of the meet, agreed.
“I was kind of hyped to have a little more competition, especially in the 50, because if you have someone slower, you can kind of get caught up in their wake,” McDonough. “So it was actually really nice to have a solid group of swimmers to kind of back you up and swim with you.”
McDonough, who was part of Morse’s 400 freestyle relay team that set a Maine state record (3:14.37), also claimed an individual state record in the 50 freestyle (20.47).
“I was like, ‘I want to get my team record,'” McDonough said of his prerace mindset. “Then I got the state record, and it was just, like, it was mind-blowing.”
The Shipbuilders also set a conference record in the 200 freestyle relay (1:30.62). Morse swept the Class B individual races. Mitchell won the 200 freestyle (1:46.28) and 500 freestyle (4:51.28), Chubbuck set a school record to win the 100 breaststroke (59.59), Wright won the 200 IM (2:01.74) and 100 backstroke (54.56), McDonough added a victory in the 100 butterfly (52.39), and senior Anders Savage won the 100 freestyle (50.98).
Hallowell was named the Class B coach of the year.
“This is one of the most impressive KVAC swim performances I think I’ve ever seen,” Hallowell said. “I’ve been in the swimming game now for more than 20 years, and it was just an honor to watch these guys swim incredibly fast. Hopefully they can do it again at the states.”
Mt. Ararat senior Josh Langworthy claimed Class A titles in the 10o backstroke (54.03) and 100 freestyle (49.94) and was named Class A swimmer of the meet.
“There have been a lot of challenges this season, like injuries and things like that, so I’m just really grateful to my teammates and my coaches and my family and God for getting me to this point,” Langworthy said. “I’m just really happy. It’s kind of surreal that it’s my last year, it’s my last KVACs, but I’m really happy.”
Mt. Ararat/Brunswick won the 200 medley relay (1:43.12) and the 400 freestyle relay (3:34.87). Edward Little/Lewiston/Leavitt/Poland won the 200 freestyle relay (1:36.67).
In Class A individual races, the Edward Little co-op won the 50 freestyle (Cameron Lemieux, 22.68), 100 breaststroke (Chase Leonardo, 1:00.49) and 200 IM (Leonardo, 2:04.19). Mt. Ararat/Brunswick won the 100 butterfly (Marco Venegas, 53.55) and 200 freestyle (David Venegas, 2:02.09). Joseph Branaugh of Messalonskee won the 500 freestyle (5:20.42).
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Join the Conversation
We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It’s a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. Read more...
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
For those stories that we do enable discussion, our system may hold up comments pending the approval of a moderator for several reasons, including possible violation of our guidelines. As the Maine Trust’s digital team reviews these comments, we ask for patience.
Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday and limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve.
By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is found on our FAQs.
You can modify your screen name here.
Show less
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your CentralMaine.com account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.