The Edward Little senior swimmer was a standout on the Red Eddies’ Eastern A championship team that lost in the soccer state finals to Windham. That experience meant that Paione’s swimming season got a late start.
“I had a rough beginning of the season,” Paione said. “We had states for soccer. So I started swimming later than usual. So I started rough. My times have started to go down. This is the first meet that I actually came through with good teams with both events.”
Edward Little and Lewiston met in the final swim meet of the regular season at the YWCA in Lewiston. Paione won a pair of events Saturday night and was named one of the performers of the meet. She won the 100 butterfly and the 100 breastroke. Lewiston junior Matt Charest was the boys’ top swimmer. Charest also won two events, taking the 200 IM and the 100 breastroke.
“I’ve been swimming for a really long time,” Charest said. “It means so much. I’ve been trying so hard. All the guys and the girls on the team did great also. I’m just so happy. I’m very surprised by my times. My times have been okay this year.”
The Lewiston boys won its meet convincingly, 105-26. In the girls’ meet, Edward Little was the winner 96-73.
“I knew that our boys had a leg up on the EL boys,” Lewiston coach Troy Boutin said. “That was somewhat expected. They swam particularly well. I knew the girls’ meet was going to be closer. We knew that from the beginning. I still feel like our girls did a good job. A number of them got personal bests tonight and inched closer to state qualifying times in certain events. So that was great.”
It was an eventful meet for the two local swim teams. It was the last regular season meet before the KVAC’s next week and the state meet that follows. It was also the last laps for the seniors on both clubs.
“A lot of these kids swam with each other on club teams,” EL coach Scott Morrison said. “They have a great bond. Although each team wants to win, they cheer each other on because we all know each other.”
The seniors were recognized during a break in the middle of the meet. Those swimmers walked alongside the pool, escorted by family, and high-fiving teammates along the way.
“It was bittersweet,” said Paione, who plans to swim in college and study nursing, even though she hasn’t determined a school yet. “It’s a little sad but I’m excited to be moving on to another level. It’s sad leaving everyone behind.”
Paione, who won the 100 freestyle state title last year and was second in the 200 breastroke, won the 100 butterfly in 1:02.76. She then added the win in the 100 yard breaststroke in 1:12.48.
Charest won the 200 IM in 2:03.11 and added the win in the 100 breastroke in 1:02.74.
“Matt had a fantastic night,” Boutin said. “It’s a delight to watch him swim. He had really strong times and that speaks volumes to where he’s at as a swimmer. I can’t wait to see what he’ll do at states.”
The Lewiston boys also got two wins from Alexander Miles. He won the 100 butterfly in 1:08.77 and took the 100 yard backstroke in 1:16.52. Everett McNally won the 200 freestyle in 2:31.09. Caleb Lebrun won the 50 freestyle in 25.48. Bryce Cloutier won the 500 freestyle in 6:49.55.
“We’re doing awesome,” Charest said of the team. “This year was a building year. We a lot of seniors. So how well we did this year has been amazing.”
The EL boys got a win from Michal Cwik in the 100 freestyle with a time of 56.39. He’s the only EL boy to qualify for states so far.
“He has a chance to place in states this year,” Morrison said. “So we’re pretty excited about that.”
In addition to Paione’s wins, Maggie Chirayath won in the 200 freestyle in 2:17.26 and the 100 yard backstroke in 1:14.52. The Red Eddies also got wins from Sarah Legere in the 50 yard freestyle in :29.32. Lily Russell won the 100 freestyle in 1:11.26.
“The girls, I actually thought it would be closer than it was,” Morrison said. “Our girls performed very well. There were a lot of personal best times and things to take home as we go into the KVAC’s. I’m pretty excited about that.”
The Lewiston girls’ got wins from Elizabeth Small in the 200 IM in 2:51.82 and Jami Morissette won the 500 freestyle in 6:47.35.
With the regular season complete, the teams are now turning their focus to the biggest meets of the season in the coming weeks.
“Our aim is really to focus on individual swims at this point,” Boutin said. “That’s kind of where we are as a developing team. I think that’s an appropriate place to be. Our goal is to qualify as many swimmers as possible for states and the KVACs.”
The Lewiston boys were second in the KVAC’s last year and 10th in the state meet. The girls were fifth in the KVAC last year. The EL girls’ were sixth last year in the conference meet, just behind Lewiston. The girls then finished 13th in states. The boys were sixth in the KVAC.
“The KVAC, we’ll typically be in the top three or four teams,” Morrison said of his girls’ squad. “For us that’s not the meet of the year. The meet of the year is the states. We have a number of girls that have qualified for individual events and our relays will do well. I certainly expect that our girls will be in the top 13.”
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