Waterville/Winslow’s Eric Booth comes up for air during the 100-meter butterfly during a meet Friday against Cony at the Kennebec Valley YMCA in Augusta. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan Buy this Photo
AUGUSTA — The meet between the Cony and Waterville/Winslow swim teams Friday night at the Kennebec Valley YMCA wasn’t a contest of who’s better than who.
It was far more of a test of where each team stands as the regular season nears its end. For both teams, it’s in a positive direction.
By score, the Cony girls topped Waterville/Winslow 92-68. The Waterville/Winslow boys beat Cony 78-43. The Cony girls — the defending Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A champions — continue to show a winning edge, despite turnover on the roster and a change in head coach.
Cony’s Emma Thomas competes in the 200-meter individual medley during a meet against Waterville/Winslow on at the Kennebec Valley YMCA in Augusta. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan Buy this Photo
“They’re kind of in a midseason mode,” said Cony coach Bob Johnston, who took over the program this season after former coach Jon Millett was named Cony athletic director. “They’re working hard in practice. They don’t care too much about the results of the dual meets. The long term goal is to get ready for the KVACs and states.”
Cecilia Guadalupi had a particularly strong evening in the pool. She won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:07.96, nearly 11 seconds faster than second-place finisher Emma Farnham of Waterville/Winslow. Guadalupi’s time, Johnston said, was among the top times in the event in the state so far this season.
Emma Thomas also turned in a strong finish for the Cony girls in the 500 freestyle, finishing at 5:39.88, which was more than 1:03 faster than second-place finisher Sarah McNeil of Waterville/Winslow.
“(Guadalupi and Thomas) wanted to swim those events, and I knew they were ready to perform and they did,” Johnston said.
The Waterville/Winslow girls had notable performances from Ebba Heaton-Jones, who won the 200 free (2:08.74) and the 100 butterfly (1:08.90).
Waterville/Winslow had strong efforts from the boys side, especially from Eric Booth. A senior, Booth was able to edge Cony’s Gabe Biasuz for wins in both the 50 free (24.08 to Biasuz’s 25.43) and 100 butterfly (1:01.67 to Biasuz’s 1:04.3). He was also a member of the 200 individual medley relay team that topped Cony with a time of 1:58.38.
“They had some good, breakout performances,” Waterville/Winslow coach Justin Giroux said. “Notably Eric Booth, he’s coming into his own towards the end of the season. He’s been doing really well in the 50 free, really had a really good performance — 23 (seconds) low — last Tuesday. Not quite as good today, around 24, but that’s a really strong performance. He’s been doing well in his 100 fly and it’ll be interesting to see (his success in the breaststroke) continues.”
Despite being undermanned, the Cony boys showed fight in nearly every event, and came out on top in the closest race of the night when Tyler Foster edged Kevin Chen of Waterville/Winslow in the 200 free at 2:12.63 (Chen finished at 2:12.98).
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