Lincoln Academy girls swam to KVAC Gold Friday night at the Bath YMCA. The Lady Eagles won eight out of 11 races to claim their first ever Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference swimming championship. Lincoln swimmers broke four school records in the meet, including both freestyle relays.
Sophomore Kara Mullin was named KVAC Female Swimmer of the meet, after claiming victories in the two most grueling events. Mullin won the 200 IM in a school record breaking time of 2:24.36, and also won the 500 free in 5:46.17.
Coach Don Strout was named 2010-11 KVAC Girls’ Swim Coach of Year. This is the second KVAC title for Strout, who coached Lincoln Academy boys to victory in the 2006-07 season.
Lincoln scored 285, to beat out Belfast (268) by 17 points. Waterville was third with 162, Camden 157, Erskine Academy 130, Gardiner 120 and Winslow 80.
The KVAC championship meet was close out of the blocks, with the Eagles holding a narrow lead throughout the competition. The final event, the 400 free relay, was a must win. The Lady Eagles were the favorite going into the event, and did not disappoint coach Strout, swimming to victory in school record breaking time of 4:01.67. Swimming a leg on the relay were Mullin, Valeska, Vaughn, Gretchen Konitzky and Heidi Ziegra.
The Lady Eagles also won the 200 free relay in record breaking time of 1:48.44 with Mullin, Vaughn, Konitzky and Ziegra.
Ziegra and Vaughn joined Mullin in winning two events each for Lincoln. Ziegra won the 200 free in 2:10 and the 100 butterfly setting the school record in 1:07.02. Vaughn won the 50 free in 27.14 and the 100 free in 1:00.44.
Konitzky placed second in the 100 back in 1:09.81, less than a half second out of first place. Konitzky also placed 5th in the 200 IM. Olivia Pennington took 3rd in the 200 free in 2:17 and the 100 back in 1:11. Carolyn MacDonald was 5th in the 100 back in 1:09 and 7th in the 50 free in 30.79. Holly Stegna placed 5th in the 100 fly and 10th in the 200 free in 2:39. Senior Olivia Delisle took 5th in the 100 free in 1:05 and 6th in the 100 breast in 1:22.
The Lady Eagles placed fourth in the 200 medley relay in 2:15 with MacDonald, Delisle, Stegna and Pennington swimming a leg.
Lincoln boys placed fourth overall out of eight teams. Belfast won with 392, Waterville 242, Winslow 138, Lincoln 125, Camden 104, Erskine 76, Medomak 51 and Oak Hill 10.
The Eagles placed 3rd in the 200 medley relay in 2:12 with Nate Friant, Andrew Arter, Griffin Han-Lalime and Hadden. They took 4th in the 200 free relay in 1:48 with Han-Lalime, Josh Andrews, Friant and Hadden, and placed 5th in the 400 free relay in 5:00 with Tyler Abbotoni, Arter, Luke Levesque and Andrews swimming a leg.
Friant placed 6th in the 100 fly in 1:10, and 8th in the 200 free in 2:20. Han-Lalime was 8th in the 100 breast in 1:22 and 9th in the 100 fly in a state qualifying time of 1:12. Josh Andrews was 10th in the 50 free in 28.16.
Mike Prescott placed 9th for Medomak Valley in the 50 free in 27.71 and the 100 free in 1:01. The Panthers placed 4th in the 200 medley relay in 2:20 with Prescott, Lance Parker, Ian Rixon and Will Cormier, and placed 6th in the 200 free relay in 2:00.3 with the same four swimmers.
