BATH — Sam Zarfos grew tired of second-place finishes in a hurry, particularly after grabbing four of them at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B meet last year.

“I have a lot of ribbons for second place,” the Waterville senior said. “It gets a little old. The guys who’ve defeated me deserved it, but, yeah, I got tired of second.”

Zarfos made quick work of his foes in the Bath Area Family YMCA pool Tuesday night to earn his first KVAC B titles — in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breaststroke.

He was a big reason why Waterville nearly toppled deeper Belfast for the crown.

The Lions won the KVAC B title with 248 points while the Panthers finished second with 229. Camden Hills finished third while Winslow was fourth.

Camden Hills won the KVAC B girls title with 344 points while Waterville was second with 192. Lincoln (173), Belfast (161) and Winslow (159) rounded out the top five.

“Belfast has a few more numbers than we do,” Waterville coach Bob Johnston said. “Our boys and girls had good years. We’ve never beaten Belfast before but we came close.”

Added Zarfos, who was named boys outstanding swimmer of the meet: “(Belfast) has the depth and the diving. I know how good they are, and they deserved it. They fought us off.”

Zarfos started the night by winning the 200 individual medley in 2 minutes, 8.92 seconds. He finished it by taking the 100 breaststroke, an event he calls his “bread and butter.” He won the breaststroke in 1:05.17.

“Everything felt pretty good,” Zarfos said. “I felt strong. It was a good day. I didn’t expect being (boys swimmer of the meet). But I’ll gladly take it and put (the plaque) in my room.”

He easily won the breaststroke by four seconds over Jerahmy Clapp of Belfast. Zarfos also won the individual medley by a comfortable margin — six seconds over Griffin Davis of Winslow.

Seeded first in the event, Zarfos said he wanted to set the tone early in the butterfly and backstroke lengths of the medley.

“I really wanted to focus on my backstroke,” he said. “I wanted to keep it long and strong. I just wanted to get it to the breaststroke, which is my bread and butter. Then I could give it all I had in the freestyle.”

Despite finishing second in the individual medley, Davis rebounded to win the 100 backstroke in 1:01.18.

“I did mostly the (butterfly) last year but I’ve had problems with my back,” Davis said. “So I’ve swam most the backstroke this year. I practiced harder than I did last year and it paid off.”

Davis was seeded first in the event.

“I was worried I would stress out too much and choke out,” he said. “I was really nervous.”

Russian foreign exchange student Vika Arkhipova also enjoyed a big meet for Winslow.

Arkhipova, who is staying with the Davis family, won the 100 backstroke in 1:02.01 and finished second in the 100 freestyle. She also anchored the victorious 400 free relay team, which finished in 4:06.70.

Bethany Winkin, Jessica Greely and Sierra Hopkins swam the other legs.

The Waterville girls received strong performances from Sarah Ringer, who won the 100 breaststroke (1:14.07) and Treva deMaynadier, who was third in the 200 free (2:14.51).

Elsewhere for the Waterville boys, Emmett deMaynadier finished second in the 100 butterfly (58.83). Ben Wehry finished third in the 200 free (2:03.64) while the 200 medley relay team finished runnerup to Belfast.

“We had a good meet,” Zarfos said. “We came close.”

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com