By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

BATH – Placing second in the KVAC swim meet Saturday wasn’t much of a disappointment for the Lewiston High School girls’ swim team.

In fact, judging by the smiles and jubilation, you’d actually think the Blue Devils took first.

“I think we did awesome,” said senior Abby Bosse. “The fact that we went undefeated our senior year is an amazing feeling. We don’t even consider this a defeat. We know our record was 12-0, and we had a perfect season. Even though we didn’t win, it’s like we did because we all cut times. We all did amazing. We all had great team spirit.”

Waterville won the girls’ meet Saturday at the Bath YMCA with 292 points. Lewiston was second with 259. Brunswick and Morse followed with 204 and 203 points respectively.

“When you look at the entries and add up what would happen if everyone stayed where they were, Waterville was about that far ahead,” said Lewiston coach Dave Bright. “They were strong in the freestyle events. We were strong in the stroke events. I was happy that we won two out of the three relays.”

Mt. Blue finished 14th thanks to its lone swimmer Mattie Fowler. She won the 500- and 200-freestyle races and was named the meet’s Most Outstanding Swimmer. Edward Little finished 17th with 17 points.

Fowler set a new KVAC mark in the 500 with a time of 5:21.64. The previous mark was 5:28.54. She also finished the 200 in 2:03.2.

“It’s been one of my goals to break the 500 KVAC record,” said the Mt. Blue junior, who swims with the Messalonskee team. “Last year, I was pretty close to it, but this year, I was feeling pretty confident and pretty good at the beginning of the race.”

That record came after Fowler had been battling bronchitis and the flu for the last two weeks.

“This is always a meet that I love,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect because I was recovering. I love to come to this meet. I swam better than I expected, and I was swimming with a lot of girls that I know and a lot of girls that I train with. So it was a lot of fun. I thought it would be a fun meet even if I didn’t do well.”

Lewiston also took away a pair of individual honors. Bosse and Heather Marichal were each presented scholarships for $350. Coaches can nominate swimmers for the scholarship. The athletes apply and write an essay about the role of swimming in their lives. Bosse, Marichal and Lewiston’s Samantha Leeman were the only candidates.

“I knew there weren’t a lot of people that sent it in,” said Marichal. “I knew it was me and her that sent ours in. So I was hoping we would get it. It’s awesome. We’ve been swimming together for four years, and we’re both graduating.”

Marichal also was part of Lewiston’s two relay teams that won. She joined Jessica Stocker, Caitlyn Robitaille and Isla Hanson in the 200 medley relay. They also teamed up to win the 200 freestyle relay.

“I wasn’t expecting to get first,” said Marichal. “That was awesome. We had all the people cheering for us.”

Lewiston’s team of Bosse, Kayla Gosselin, Joline Dubuc and Nicole Grant added a ninth-place finish in the 400 free relay.

“We came in ninth in our relay, but we won our heat,” said Bosse. “It’s exactly like winning.”

The Blue Devils also got a second in the 100 breaststroke and third in the 200 freestyle from Hanson. Stocker took second in the 200 IM and was fifth in the 100 backstroke. Robitaille was sixth in the 50 and fourth in the 100 freestyle. Marichal added a second in the 100 butterfly and eighth in the 100 backstroke. Grant was ninth in the butterfly.

“We had a lot of season bests and lifetime bests,” said Bright. “So (second place) really wasn’t a result of not performing well.”

EL’s top performances came from Kaila Currier, who took ninth in the 100 breaststroke. EL’s team of Ericka Nadeau, Chelsea Bernard, Meredith Byard and Jesslyn Lawler took 13th in the 400 freestyle relay.