Wildcat swimmers compete in States
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The Wildcat boys’ swim team participated in the state championship Feb. 18 at the University of Maine at Orono.
MATT BURTT of the Presque Isle Wildcats’ varsity swim team competes in a home meet held earlier this month. Burtt was part of a school-record breaking relay team that took part in last week’s Class B state meet held at the University of Maine at Orono.
Four school records were set by PI swimmers. The 200 medley relay team of Dustin Drabek, Nate Dewitt, Matt Burtt and Keegan Ennis established a new mark at 1:55.77, while the 200 freestyle relay team of Dewitt, Alex Hemphill, Joshua Jones and Ennis had a time of 1:43.63.
David Cyr, Burtt, Jones and Drabek recorded a time of 4:09.24 in the 400 freestyle relay, while Dewitt set an individual record in the 50 freestyle at 24.52 seconds.
Dewitt placed eighth in the 100 butterfly in 1:00.11 for the top placement of the day for PI, which as a team placed 15th out of 24 teams with 41 points. Greely High School of Cumberland won with 303 points.
The Wildcat boys scored 84 points at the Penobscot Valley Conference championships, which took place Feb. 11 at Husson University in Bangor. That put them seventh overall out of a field of 14 teams.
Presque Isle was sixth in the 200 medley relay in 2:00.51. Drabek, Hemphill, Dewitt and Ennis made up the team. Hemphill took 10th in the 200 IM in 2:33.2, Dewitt was fourth in the 50 free in 24.84 and sixth in the 100 fly in 1:00.69.
Drabek placed seventh in the 500 free in 6:09.12, while the 200 free relay team (Hemphill, Ennis, Jones and Dewitt) took sixth in 1:47.92 and the 400 free relay team (Cyr, Jones, Drabek and Burtt) was eighth in 4:11.85.
The PI girls also competed in the state meet Feb. 19 at UM-Orono and the PVCs Feb. 12 at Husson.
The Wildcats didn’t score at the state meet, but at the PVCs, the 400 free relay team consisting of Sara Gilson, Olivia Goulet, Heather Nadeau and Emma Michalowski was ninth in 5:05.47. Placing 10th in the 200 free relay was the PI foursome of Jacqueline Lambert, Michalowski, Gilson and Nadeau, whose time was 2:13.62.
Presque Isle’s best individual placement was provided by Lambert in the 100 breaststroke, who recorded a time of 1:25.75. The Wildcats scored 16 points in the meet to finish 11th out of 13 teams.
