3 min read

WATERVILLE — The Camden Hills girls swimming team was dominant, while the Morse boys relied on consistency and depth as both teams successfully defended their Class B state titles Saturday at Colby College’s Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center.

Camden Hills scored 415 points, well ahead of Cape Elizabeth (296.5) and Mount Desert Island (292).

The Windjammers knew they were favored going into the meet but surprised themselves with their margin of victory.

“It was kind of crazy,” senior Rowan Stewart said. “I think that going into this meet, we knew that we had a slight edge on the points by like 50 points or something, maybe 30. And so to win by this much was just incredible.”

Flynn Layton, a junior, said the girls pushed each other.

“I just love how we all work together,” Layton said. “We support each other, and we always cheer each other on — that makes it so much better.”

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The Morse boys, meanwhile, battled with Greely and Ellsworth all afternoon. The Shipbuilders pulled away in the second half of the meet and finished with 352 points, followed by Greely with 326 and Ellsworth with 296.

“This year, we came in, we didn’t really know what we were going to look like, and we worked really hard,” Morse senior Brady Chubbuck said. “We got the results, and I’m really proud of everyone on the team.”

Camden Hills started the meet with a bang, as Adella Brainerd, Marguerite Worner, Layton and Stewart set a Class B record in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 46.83 seconds.

“I told the girls before, I said, we’ve got a shot at this,” Camden Hills coach Mark McCluskey said. “And they ended up going and beating it by nearly a full second, which is very, very impressive. It was just a perfect race, beginning to end.”

The Windjammers also won the other two relays: the 200 freestyle (1:41.89) and 400 freestyle (3:42.15). Avery Weeks, Py Nakjaroen, Worner and Brainerd were the quartet for the 200. Havana Kriste and Georgia Brainerd joined Layton and Stewart in the 400 freestyle.

Stewart was the girls performer of the meet. She won the day’s first individual race, the 200 freestyle (1:57.81), then added a victory in the 100 backstroke (57.36).

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Layton won the 500 freestyle (5:18.31) and Brainerd placed first in 100 breaststroke (1:07.8).

The Morse boys, Fletcher McDonough won diving with 465.40 points and also came in fifth in the 100 backstroke (58.70).

Brady Chubbuck finished second in both the 50 freestyle (22.36) and 100 breaststroke (57.91). Sergio Rodriguez, an international student from Spain, placed second in the 500 freestyle (5:01.69) and fourth in the 200 IM (2:06.02).

Rodriguez said he was glad he could contribute to the team.

“The pressure was there,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t know if I would have enough (confidence) to score points for the team. … Like after the first month, I felt really confident with my swims.”

Caden Wells, Cameron Griffee, Max Couture and Chubbuck teamed up to win the 200 freestyle relay with a meet-record time of 1:29:01. Morse finished second in the medley relay (1:38.45), nearly two seconds behind Greely, which broke the meet record with a time of 1:36.48. The Shipbuilders’ 400 freestyle relay team placed fourth (3:29.68).

Mount Desert Island’s Patrick Saltysiak was chosen as boys performer of the meet after winning the 100 butterfly (52.73) and 100 backstroke (52.74). He was also on MDI’s third-place 200 medley relay team.

Nathan Fournier has been a sports reporter for the Sun Journal the past eight years. He enjoys hanging out with family and friends, watching sports when he's not working. He's a 2010 graduate of the New...

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