ORONO — Caitlin Tycz heard the roar of delight from her Brunswick High teammates before her eyes could focus on the scoreboard Saturday at the University of Maine.
“They knew,” said Tycz. “They always know.”
The state and pool record for the 100-yard butterfly was hers, a blazing 53.32 seconds.
For perspective, seven seconds passed before the second-place swimmer arrived. The time for Tycz was a half-second faster than that of the 100 freestyle champion, Elaine Dudley of Massabesic.
“That’s crazy,” Dudley said. “I just love watching her swim because she does better and better every year.”
For the second straight year, Tycz, a junior, led the Dragons to the Class A girls’ swimming and diving state championship. Brunswick finished with 289 points, while Scarborough held off Cheverus for second, 256-251.
Bangor was fourth at 209 followed by Cony (181), Massabesic (145), Deering (138), Falmouth (119), Westbrook (107) and 16 other schools.
Tycz actually had a hand in the mark she broke by pushing Bangor’s Emma Waddell, who now swims for Williams College, to a 54.49 clocking in the 2014 state meet.
“We both dropped a ton of time,” said Tycz, who also won the 200 individual medley (by another seven seconds, in 2:06.23), and anchored the victorious 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Not surprisingly, she was named performer of the meet.
“Going into it, I knew I wanted (the record) and knew I could do it,” she said. “But you can’t ever expect anything. It was wonderful. I’ve never felt like that, just a super special moment.”
Tycz was one of the three individual double winners. Dudley won her second straight 200 freestyle title to go with the 100 free. Abby Longstaff of Cheverus won the 50 free and 100 backstroke, and led off her team’s winning 200 medley relay.
“I was really worried about the dive because it’s so shallow,” said Longstaff, the second seed in both events she won. “But as soon as I dove in, everything felt right.”
Charlotte Janelle of Falmouth won her fourth straight diving title with 417.40 points, surpassing by two points the meet record set 27 years ago by Stacey Cooper of Bangor.
“I was trying not to think about the record,” Janelle said. “I was just trying to do my best and figured I’ll find out at the end.”
Lynsie Russell of Brunswick won the 500 freestyle and swam on both winning freestyle relays. Cheverus freshman Caroline Arpin won the 100 breast stroke and swam that stroke on the winning medley relay that also included Gabrielle Cholish and Sophia Kruse.
Emma Blair and Lexi Stevenson joined Russell and Tycz on a 200 free relay for Brunswick that beat Scarborough by four seconds.
Needing only to avoid disqualification in the final 400 free relay, Brunswick instead lowered its own state record set a week earlier at the KVAC meet, as Blair, Russell, freshman Alex Morse and Tycz capped the meet with a five-second victory over Scarborough in 3:39.10.
“We never play it safe,” Tycz said. “We were just so excited to be here and we knew what we could do it.”
Blair was runner-up in the 50 and 100 free. Russell added a second in the 200 free. Morse, Stevenson, Sophie Blair, Anna Rider, Emily Cowan and Hannah Escoe all contributed points in individual events for Brunswick.
“It helped having kids who had won before,” said Brunswick Coach David Bright, “kids who knew what to expect and what we needed to do.”
In the battle for second, Cheverus pulled within a point of Scarborough with one event left when Arpin won the breast stroke, but the Red Storm managed second in the 400 free relay.
“From 14th last year to second this year, it just says a lot for these girls,” said Scarborough Coach Eric French.
Correction: This story has been updated to show Stacey Cooper of Bangor High had set the Class A state meet diving record 27 years ago.
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