While they didn’t win, the Windham swimming and diving team had a strong showing at the South Southwestern swimming and diving championships held in Westbrook last Friday and Saturday.
The Windham boys finished in 6th place out of 11 teams, and had two individual champions at the meet on Friday.
Windham got an early boost from freshmen Lance Webster and Nate Paluso who finished second and fifth in the 200 freestyle.
Sophomore Bryndon Page finished 12th and qualified for the state championships in the 50 free. Freshman Ryan Page, who didn’t place in the 50, dropped 1.5 seconds off his personal best time. Page also was able to post a personal best in the 100 breaststroke by over a second.
The Eagles saw their first individual Southwestern champion as sophomore Jake Shoberg won the 100 butterfly by almost four seconds over his nearest competitor. Shoberg followed this performance up two events later with a second-place finish in the 500 freestyle.
It wasn’t long before Windham grabbed another individual championship as Lance Webster won the 100 backstroke in a close race over Adam Cyr of Biddeford.
Nate Paluso fought to a fifth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke while Bryndon Page finished 10th in the event.
The Windham Relay Team of Lance Webster, Bryndon Page, Jake Shoberg, and Nathan Paluso finished third in the 400 freestyle relay, which saw three teams within two seconds of each other at the finish.
On Saturday it was the girls turn in the pool. Windham finished 10th out of 13 teams at the meet. Even before the meet began a swimmer from Windham was honored. Senior captain Amanda Butler was awarded a Southwestern Maine Swim Officials Scholarship in recognition of her academic performance, community involvement, and athletic contributions.
In the 200 freestyle, sophomore Kirstin Russell dropped five full seconds to place eighth and while junior Morgan Reutlinger did not place, she dropped over 18 seconds off of her personal best. Sophomores Kim Sundquist and Jess Merrill dropped one-and-a-half and eight seconds respectively in the 200 IM.
Windham continued the trend in the 50 free as sophomore Chloe Mack finished fourth with a personal best, and freshman Ali Wilkerson and Shayna Strumph both dropped two-and-a-half seconds off of their time.
Abby Bland just missed placing in the 100 butterfly, finishing 13th and setting a personal best by three seconds. Mack came back with an eighth place finish in the 100 free and was joined in the personal best category by Jaci Lorenzen and Olivia Butts who both dropped over two-and-a-half seconds.
Kirstin Russell came back with a strong performance in the 500 free, finishing 8th and dropping nine seconds.
The relay team of Mack, Wilkerson, Reutlinger and Russell finished fifth in the 200 freestyle relay.
Lorenzen and Sundquist carried the momentum into the 100 backstroke by each dropping three seconds off of personal best times. Abby Bland finished off the meet with a three second drop in the 100 breaststroke.
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