BATH — Kristy Prelgovisk knew she was in for a long day with plenty of tough competition at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A meet Monday.

Arthur Conover knew he’d be swimming primarily against himself.

Both Messalonskee swimmers ended up with impressive performances at the Bath Family YMCA.

Prelgovisk set a KVAC A and pool record in the 100-meter breaststroke to go along with a victory in the 100 butterfly.

Conover crushed the field in the 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley to earn KVAC A boys outstanding swimmer of the meet honors.

“Overall, it was a great day,” Messalonskee coach Sara Rushton said. “We had two great swims from Kristy and Arthur had a big meet.”

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Brunswick swept the meet rather convincingly thanks to some dominating performances.

Senior Jessica Russell set four KVAC A records — the 200 medley relay (1:53.07), 200 individual medley (2:10.60), 500 freestyle (5:08.70) and 200 free relay (1;42.83).

“I didn’t expect this,” she said. “It’s pretty exciting. I didn’t know what to expect. I felt good, though.”

The Brunswick girls finished with a whopping 328 points to knock off defending KVAC A champ Messalonskee, which finished second with 203 points. The boys finished with 292 points to win their second consecutive KVAC A title. Lewiston was second with 215 while Morse (205), Cony (153) and Messalonskee (129) rounded out the top five.

Henry Dtizel (100 breaststroke, 200 free) and Jacob Cost (100 backstroke, 100 butterfly) each won a pair of events to pace the Dragons.

Prelgovisk won the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.94, which broke her own record from last season.

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“My timing felt good,” she said. “I’ve been finishing around 1:08 lately so it was nice to get down.”

She was seeded second to Lynsie Russell of Brunswick in the 100 butterfly, but shaved a second off her previous best time to win the race. Russell was second in 1:01.34.

“I really worked on my under-water swimming,” Prelgovisk said. “I knew it was going to be close. I just wanted to stay out front. It was a close race, which is fun.”

Conover had no such luck in the pool. He came in as the prohibitive favorite to win his event, and he did.

He won the 200 individual medley in 2:01.71. Cony’s Adam McNeff was runner-up in 2:12.81.

McNeff also finished second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 59.35.

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“My last 100 was a little slower than I wanted,” Conover, a junior, said. “I try not to swim for the time, but rather for feel.”

He won the 500 in 4:48.76, which was more than 31 seconds faster than runner-up Noah Aube of Cony. Aube also finished second in the 200 free.

“It’s hard to know how fast you’re going when there is no one around you,” Conover said. “It was tough to get a gauge, but it felt good.”

Also on Monday, Daeghan Elkin of Messalonskee finished second in the 50 free (24.62) and third in the 100 free (55.05)

Ally Fischang of Messalonskee was second in the 500 free (5:50.59) while Melissa Petersen of Cony finished third in the 100 free (59.96).

Celia Ouellette of Mt. Ararat also had a big day.

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She set a meet record in the 50 free with a time of 24.02 and won won the 100 free in 54.56

Of note: The KVAC B meet was postponed to today at 5 p.m. because of inclement weather. The meet was supposed to follow the KVAC A championships Monday but several teams were unable to attend because of the weather conditions.

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com

 


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