Bangor Girls Upset, Cheverus Boys Dominate at Maine Class A State

2019 Maine Class A High School State Championships

• February 19th, 2019
• Bowdoin College, ME
• Short Course Yards
• Full Results – Girls
• Full Results – Boys

Girls Meet

Defending state champions Cony High School took the lead from the get-go, with Bangor lurking behind them. Despite only winning the final contested event – which the title race came down to – the Bangor girls team usurped Cony to take the state championship crown, scoring 274 points over Cony’s 261 points.

The 200 medley relay team of Gabby Low, Dinkel Lunden, Emma Crosby and Cecilia Guadalupi propelled Cony to their first relay win, touching in a time of 1:49.84, breaking the meet record of 1:50.17 set back in 2013.

Cony proceeded to win the next two events. Freshman Emma Thomas jumpstarted her high school career with a state title in the 200 free, swimming a 1:57.67; junior Cecilia Guadalupe topped the 200 IM field in commanding fashion, touching over seven seconds ahead of the field at 2:05.68.

Guadalupe went on to double up on wins in the 100 free, taking the win in a time of 52.70, over three seconds ahead of second place.

Also taking two individual event wins to cap off her senior year was Cony’s Gabby Low. She obliterated the competition in the 100 fly, clocking a 55.44 – the only person under 1:00 in the event – as well as took the top spot in the 100 back, registering at a 56.33.

Seven points separated Cony and Bangor heading into the final relay. With tensions running high, Bangor thrived: the 400 free relay quartet of Rachel Hand, Ginny Hunt, Maddie Huerth and McKayla Kendall easily touched the wall first, coming in at 3:46.26, securing the state championships. Touching behind them was Cony at 3:49.71.

Other Event Winners:

• Lewiston senior Brooke Cloutier was crowned state champion in the 50 freestyle, putting up a 25.04 for the win. She was the final competitor to secure two individual state titles, topping the 100 breast field with her time of 1:07.75
•  Another senior, Alex Morse out of Brunswick, narrowly out-touched Cony’s Emma Thomas in the 500 free, 5:19.67 to 5:20.19.
• Junior Lily Smith out of third-place finishing team Falmouth was the state champion in the 1m diving event, tallying a final score of 370.20.

Top 5 Teams:

1. Bangor – 274
2. Cony – 261
3. Falmouth – 202
4. Lewiston – 145
5. Kennebunk – 142

Boys Meet

The Cheverus boys team swept all three relays in a dominant state meet performance, finishing with a final score of 318 points comfortably ahead of South Portland’s score of 227 points for first place. This is their seventh straight MPA Class A state title.

Kickstarting Cheverus’s state meet campaign was the team of Jack Martin, John Hight, Owen Gall-Wagoner and Quinten Hastings, who combined narrowly beat out Cony’s team in the 200 medley relay, 1:42.03 to 1:42.67.

In the 200 IM, Bangor junior Carson Prouty set a new state record with a time of 1:51.19, well under Nate Sampson’s 1:52.03  from 2016. Prouty was the only swimmer in the event to break two minutes. Later on in the meet, Prouty took a second win in the 100 backstroke – his 51.03 was over three seconds ahead of second place.

Cony senior Nathaniel Berry followed up with a state record of his own in the next event, the 50 freestyle. He touched the wall at 20.70 – over a second ahead of the closest competitor – breaking James Wells‘s 10 year old record of 20.94. Berry went on to sweep the sprint freestyle, claiming the 100 free in a time of 47.43.

Cheverus’s freestyle relays swam lights out, acquiring two state titles in dominant fashion. The 200 freestyle relay team of Pineas Underwood, Quinton Hastings, John Hight and Brim Peabody recorded a 1:30.08, while the 400 freestyle relay – composed of Underwood, Peabody, Jack Martin and Jeremy Backer – locked in the win at 3:22.97.

Leading off Bangor’s 400 free relay, Carson Prouty broke a second state record in the 100 free with his time of 45.99. His relay team ultimately finished third in the finals at 3:30.53 behind Scarborough’s second place time of 3:29.08.

Other Event Winners:

• Owen McLaughlin, a junior representing Deering, emerged victorious in the 200 freestyle. His 1:43.01 cleared the rest of the field by over four seconds. He netted himself another individual win in the 100 fly, coming to the wall in a time of 51.65.
• Gavin McLeod of Scarborough came to the wall dead even with Cheverus’s Brim Peabody in the 500 free after having separated themselves entirely from the reset of the heat. With a fraction separating them, it was McLeod who claimed the win, winning in 4:45.51 ahead of Peabody at 4:45.55.
• Hampden Academy’s Cameron LaBree finished off his senior year with a state title in the 100 breaststroke, finishing in a final time of 1:00.64.
• In the 1m diving event – comprised of only six competitors – Freshman Anibal Berry-Gaviria out of Mt. Arat became the only member of the class of 2022 to win an event on the boys side, earning a final score of 352.35.

Top 5 Teams:

1. Cheverus – 318
2. South Portland – 227
3. Bangor – 168
4. Scarborough – 157
5. Portland – 155