George Stevens Academy’s Laura Liu swims in the 100 yard freestyle during a meet versus MDI on December 14 in Ellsworth. By Franklin Brown
Ellsworth—The George Stevens Academy swim team followed a strong showing at their opening meet against “Carlisle” December 8 with a sweeping loss to Mount Desert Island a week later. Hosting the MDI Trojans at the Ellsworth YMCA, the Eagles secured one second place finish, in the 50 yard freestyle, with senior Jeremiah Scheff finishing in 26:30, about one second behind the winning time. That was the highest finish of the meet although a handful of third- and fourth-place finishes netted the boys team 24 points to MDI’s 118, and the girls team 19 points to MDI’s 105. Not entering several of the 24 events—illness had limited the team to a total of only 14 swimmers—was partially behind the low scores for the Eagles.
George Stevens Academy sophomore Franklin Sealander swims in the 200 yard medley relay during a meet versus MDI on December 14 in Ellsworth. By Franklin Brown
“It’s always an interesting challenge to compete against the MDI swim team with [its] 50-plus experienced, well-seasoned swimmers,” Coach Don Driscoll said of the Trojans, whose boys team won seven of the last 15 state championships, including 2018, and girls team won in 2013 and 2014. “But with all of that being said, we did have some personal best times this season.” Driscoll pointed to Scheff, seniors Chris Bennett, Alex Yap, and Laura Liu, junior Andy Yan and sophomore Franklin Sealander as all performing at a high level at the MDI meet.
Against “Carlisle”, a team with members from Presque Isle, Caribou and Maine School of Science and Mathematics, the Eagles won half the events, scoring 44 points for the girls team, and 61 for the boys team. Carlisle did not participate in the meet as a scoring event.
The Eagles have some time to get all their members healthy before their next meet; the team faces Old Town in Ellsworth on Saturday, January 11.
George Stevens Academy’s Randy Yan swims his leg of the 200 yard medley relay during a meet versus MDI on December 14 in Ellsworth. By Franklin Brown