Bangor boys turn in strong performances at Class A state swim meet

BANGOR, Maine — Bangor High School’s second-place finish at the Class A boys state swimming and diving championships behind a young, deep and talented Cheverus of Portland squad included performances among the elite in Maine interscholastic swimming history.
David Smallwood’s second place of 1 minute, 42.3 seconds in the 200 free is the third-fastest in Maine.
The fastest 200 free belongs to former Ram swimmer Jason Thomas (1:40.7). Thomas, who raced the time standard in 1999, continued his swimming at the University of Tennessee.
Bangor’s 400 free relay time of 3:19.3 is the fifth-fastest in Maine. However, three of the four faster relays, including the state record (3:14.4), were swum by Bangor.
In the 200 medley relay at the state meet, coach Phil Emery’s Rams finished with the fourth-fastest relay in interscholastic competition. The three faster relays are Bangor’s.
Emery, who described his team’s performance at this year’s state meet as excellent, notes that in the trials all times swum by the Rams were career-best save Smallwood’s and Liam Reading’s, who swam their career records in the finals.
Reading became the first swimmer in the storied history of Bangor swimming to break the minute mark in the 100 breaststroke. Smallwood also eclipsed Jake Jentzer’s long-held BHS 100 butterfly record of 52.7 with a sizzling 51.9.

Curran, Batson shine

Former Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor swimmer Chelsey Curran, a sophomore at La Salle University, sped to a 56.5 in the 100 backstroke for 10th place at the recent Atlantic 10 Championships.
Curran also clocked a 52.6 in the fifth-place 400 free relay (3:27.3).
Also at the Atlantic 10, Ellsworth’s Brian Batson, swimming for La Salle, swam a 46.4 in the final of the 100 free (46.0 in the trials). In the 800 free relay, Batson split 1:41.8 for the sixth-place Explorers and in the 200 free relay he recorded a 20.6 on the team’s sixth-place relay (1:22.3).
The University of Richmond won the women’s championship while St. Bonaventure won the men’s title.

Galea sets Colby mark

At the NESCAC Championships held at Wesleyan College in Middletown, Conn., Vincent Galea set a Colby College record in the 200 free (1:41.6). Galea earned a sixth-place award with his 46.2 100 free.
Paul Wenneberg of Cape Elizabeth scored in the 100 breaststroke for Colby at 58.4.
Williams College won the championship for the 11th consecutive year.

Hodsdon set for Div. II meet

Brewer’s Jessica Hodsdon, a senior at Bentley University, will compete in the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Nationals scheduled for March 5-9 in Birmingham, Ala.
Hodsdon will race in the 100-yard breaststroke and in the 100 butterfly.
Teammate Nicole Mancini of Falmouth has qualified for the NCAA Division II diving prequalifying meet March 5 in Birmingham. The top 22 finishers in the prequalifying meet will advance to the championships.