Lewiston’s Brooke Cloutier is the 2018-19 Sun Journal All-Region Girls Swimmer of the Year. Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn
Brooke Cloutier finished her high school career in dominating fashion.
The Lewiston senior broke four school records at the state championships and won two state titles, in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke.
“I remember just thinking it’s my last year and I really wanted to win, that just drove (me),” Cloutier said. “I wanted to qualify for nationals in the 100 breast, that really drove me to get that win.”
For all her accolades, Cloutier has been named the Sun Journal All-Region Girls Swimmer of the Year for the third consecutive time.
Her state championship breaststroke time of 1:07.75 seconds at the Class A meet in February qualified Cloutier for the YMCA Short Course National Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, this past week. There she finished the prelims 85th out of 162 swimmers with a time of 1:07.73.
Her time in the 50 freestyle at the state meet was 25.04 seconds.
She also helped the 200-yard medley team to a third-place finish at the state meet along with Emma Hawley, Melina Masselli and Taylor Belanger with a time of 1:56.75. The 200-yard freestyle team of Cloutier, Belanger, Masselli and Kate Bilodeau set a school record, as well, in a third-place finish with a 1:46.33.
She credits the two freshmen on those relay teams for the high finishes and school records.
“We had our two freshmen come in, Emma and Taylor, we knew once they came in, we would get those relay records,” Cloutier said. “The four of us just have great chemistry, we have been swimming together our whole lives.”
Lewiston’s Brooke Cloutier is the 2018-19 Sun Journal All-Region Girls Swimmer of the Year. Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn
Cloutier won both individual events at the KVAC meet, winning the breaststroke in a time of 1:07.79 and the 50 freestyle in 25.66. She was part of the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays that both finished second.
All four of the records she broke at the state championships were set at the KVAC championships the previous week, even though she feeling 100 percent healthy.
“At KVACs, I was coming off a cold, and the next week at states, I knew I was going to be able to go faster because I wasn’t sick anymore,” Cloutier said. “At KVACs, we didn’t do much for a taper, and states we tapered that entire week before. We were rested going into that.”
Cloutier plans to continue her swimming career at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts.
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