Bangor girls swim team starts fast, finishes strong

By Robby MacDonald, Special to the BDN

Posted Feb. 03, 2011, at 6:27 p.m.Cindi Howard, coach of the Bangor High girls swim team, subscribes to the coaching strategy that the first event, the 200 medley relay, establishes the tone for the meet, particularly in a keenly competitive meet.
So, in the Rams’ recent meet against the always-quick Mount Desert Island team, Howard entered the Rams’ most competitive relay and the four sped to an unusually fast dual-meet season finish of 1 minute, 56 seconds — fourth-tenths ahead of MDI.

“They all did an awesome job,” Howard said

Actually, the Rams fell behind early in the relay, not unexpectedly, since the Trojans led off with one of the state’s elite backstrokers in Chelsey Curran, who split 28.6.
But a strong backstroke leg from Julie Ann McDonald and then sharp swims from Jamie Hunsaker (34.2), Emma Waddell (25.6) and Meri Wicks (25.5) and the Rams claimed the relay and began to generate the momentum Howard had identified as key to a win against MDI.

Fed by the excitement and energy of the relay win and with their teammates on the edge of the pool watching their every stroke, Hunsaker, Jenny Dickson and McDonald scored first, third and fourth in the 200 free, the next event. The Rams’ march to a victory at MDI was on the move. Hunsaker and Dickson turned in personal records in their swims.

“I was pleased to see the excitement and to see everyone up. The girls swam really well,” Howard said. “The girls can see what they are capable of doing. I think now they can begin to see what they could do at the state meet,” Howard continued.
The Rams set three pool records at MDI. Waddell’s 200 individual medley (2:13.3) and 100 fly (1:00.1) and Bangor’s 400 free relay (3:50.2) were all new performance standards.


Bangor boys show strength
Coach Phil Emery’s Rams, too, turned in several highlight swims at MDI, a meet the Rams won. Like the girls medley relay, the boys finished in a season’s best (1:46.2). And, also, in the final relay, Emery’s boys recorded a season best at 3:33. Jeff Rogers slipped under two minutes for the first time in the 200 free and Louis Booyson lowered his 200 IM by better than two seconds, also a personal record at 2:16.8.