BRUNSWICK — Over the past two years, the Brunswick High School girls swim team has found itself accepting second place at the Class A State Championship swim meets, but this year, it finally got what it wanted — a state title.
The last time the Dragons hoisted the gold plaque was 2001, the second of back-to-back titles.
“The last two years we were runners-up, once to Cape Elizabeth and once to Cheverus,” Brunswick coach David Bright said. “The kids performed great in those meets, but were always just a little short so it was nice to turn that around and come out on top.”
“We knew how close were this year,” Brunswick sophomore Caitlin Tycz said. “This was our year to do it. I was really confident in our team. I know them really well and I knew we could do it.”
There were certainly favorites going into the meet, with Brunswick included in the mix.
The Dragons completed the day with 246 points, followed by runner-up Cheverus (230) and third-place Kennebunk (217). Bangor finished fourth with 216 points, while Deering rounded out the top five with 183.
“We went a lot further than my expectations,” Bangor coach Cindi Howard said. “We held third for a long time, but it came down to our relay team and we came in fourth by only one point, but the girls swam incredible and I’m very proud of them. Each of them swam their best times.”
The Rams started off with a first place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, beating out Deering by .49 seconds to capture the gold medal. Lynsie Russell gave the Dragons their first top-three finish, coming in third with a 2:00.36 time in the 200-yard freestyle.
It was a tight affair throughout, with the top-five teams being juggled around in the standings, with Cheverus and Deering holding first place over the course of a couple of events. It even boiled down to the last relay to finalize which team was going to capture the title, with Cheverus trailing by only six points to Brunswick.
The Dragons edged out Westbrook with a time of 1:44.43 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, while Bangor missed a top-five finish by .07 seconds behind Gorham, registering a 1:48.74 completion time.
Edward Little’s Olivia Paione made a splash at the meet. Though she placed second in the 100-yard butterfly, she was up against Tycz, who qualified in just about every event other than diving. Paione completed the 100 fly in 59.95, five seconds behind Tycz’s 54.99. The EL senior captured the title in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing well ahead of the rest of the group in 1:08.03.
Brunswick’s Olivia Dumont received a fourth-place finish in the 1-meter diving portion of the meet, collecting 298.65 points, behind Kennebunk’s Emma Patterson (314.25), Cheverus’s Nina Greenwood (341.6) and Falmouth’s Charlotte Janelle (395.25).
Russell took home the gold in the 500-yard freestyle, hitting the end at 5:20.78, with Bangor’s Hannah Wood in second place (5:27.56) and Gorham’s Alli LaFerriere in third at 5:30.81.
Kennebunk’s Marshall Lowery set a meet record in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing in 57.12, beating former Cheverus standout Sarah Nappo’s time of 57.40.
Mariah Brady of Biddeford, who took home Performer of the Meet honors, earned two gold medals, finishing first in the 50-yard freestyle (24.57), as well as in the 100 free (53.67).
Cony High School took home the Outstanding Sportsmanship Award.
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