Sophomore Eszter Szabadi competes against Ellsworth January 31. By Franklin Brown
BLUE Hill—With a small combined boys and girls varsity team of 20 swimmers, many new to the sport, the Eagles are breaking school records and have three members already qualified for the state championships. But it’s their enthusiasm and dedication that has Coach Don Driscoll excited, despite a loss January 31 to top-ranked Ellsworth, led by Jim Goodman of Penobscot .
“They’re really great kids [and] very enthusiastic about swimming,” Driscoll said. “Most of them are brand new to swimming so it’s a challenge to swim against an experienced team like Ellsworth where most of their swimmers started at age 6.”
The boys team fell 95-36 to Ellsworth but that didn’t stop junior Franklin Sealander from breaking the George Stevens Academy record in the 100 yard backstroke, and winning the event against Ellsworth in 1:06.21, keeping the Ellsworth team from making a clean sweep. Sealander also holds the school record in the 200 yard individual medley from an earlier meet this season and has qualified for the state championships in several events.
“[Sealander] doesn’t swim at all in the off season [and] has improved a tremendous amount,” Driscoll said.
The girls team lost 119 to 30.
Senior Randy Yan, competing January 31 in Ellsworth, looks to qualify for the state championships in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events. By Franklin Brown
“The scores were lopsided, we expected that to happen,” Driscoll said. “They know that Ellsworth has just an outstanding program and most of their swimmers have been competitive swimming for years. We approach this like, we try to do our personal best times, and a lot of our kids did that.”
With the Penobscot Valley Conference championships this weekend—the last chance to qualify for the state meet—Driscoll will be sending everyone on his team who is healthy, about 12 of 20 swimmers, he said. “Considering our team is basically novice swimmers, I’m sure we’ll do pretty well. Are we going to win the meet? No. But we have a few swimmers on the bubble to make it to the state meet.”
Senior Randy Yan could qualify in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle events, and also races one leg of the 200 yard medley relay. Apart from Sealander, Clark Morrison has also qualified in events, as has sophomore Fiona Allen, in several events.
“As of now, she’s our only girl,” Driscoll said.
The boys compete in the PVCs Friday, February 7 at Husson, with a 5 p.m. start time. The girls PVCs are Saturday, February 8, at UMaine at 12:30 p.m. The state championships, set for February 17 for the boys and February 18 for the girls, will be held at Bowdoin College.
Freshman Lily Jaffray competes against Ellsworth January 31. By Franklin Brown