LEWISTON – Coach Jessica Aube was a bit worried her Lewiston Blue Devils might sink a little deeper during Friday night’s Twin Cities tri-meet with Edward Little and St. Dom’s.

“Right after the holiday it’s a little rough – ‘Coach, I may have eaten a little too much candy,'” she said.

But the defending KVAC champions managed to burn off the candy canes and more than stay afloat against their rivals at the YWCA Aquatics Center.

“Generally, they all did very well. They maintained their times. Some of them may have added a little time, but I’m very pleased with all of their performances,” Aube said.

While Lewiston showed its overall strength, Edward Little displayed its depth and St. Dom’s showed why it is one of the emerging programs in the state.

“It’s always a big meet between Lewiston and EL, and it’s great having St. Dom’s here, too,” said Lewiston’s Kurtis Stocker, who won the 50 yard freestyle in 25:35 and also had a hand in the Devils winning the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays. “It was really competitive, I know at least from the boys’ standpoint.”

Three school records fell in the meet. The Saints’ Ryan Robitaille established a new mark while winning the 100 backstroke (101:14) for the two-year-old program. Robitaille, a freshman, also won the 200 freestyle and teamed up with Jake Nowinski, Sean Winstead and Cody Leavitt to post a school-best time in the 200 yard medley relay. The Saints finished third behind Lewiston’s Derek Morris, Devin Carrier, David Tirabassi and Kurtis Stocker.

Edward Little freshman Melissa Paione made a big splash by breaking a 21-year-old Eddies’ mark in the 100 breaststroke, winning in 1:11.87.

“I just wanted to put it all on the table,” said Paione, who also won the 200 freestyle (2:11.21) and anchored the Eddies’ winning 400 freestyle relay (4:38.82). “I was hoping for the record, of course, but I just wanted to break my own times and get better.”

“Melissa is one of those naturally gifted and talented athletes. We’ll probably see several more records go over the next four years. She’s one of the best swimmers in the state,” EL coach Scott Morrison said. “She just floats on the water.”

St. Dom’s sophomore Allie Lewandowski floated to wins in the 200 individual medley (2:26.0), the 100 butterfly (1:07.43) and the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays (with Greta Castongway, Alyse Carney, Emily Rioux and Sarah Small).

“This is a fun meet to interact with teammates (from Twin Cities Swim Team or USA Swimming) that are on different (school teams). It’s a friendly rivalry,” Lewandoski said. “I was pretty pleased with my 100 butterfly because it was my best time for high school. good to be dropping time this early in the season.”

St. Dom’s coach Marc Robitaille was excited for his team’s event winners but even happier about how his newcomers performed.

“We’re small in number, but it’s been amazing the level of improvement that we’ve had over the last few weeks,” said Robitaille, who credited head coaches John and Teresa McGonagill with leading the program’s growth. “We’ve got some swimmers that never set foot in the pool prior to this season and we have some substantial time drops.”

Other winners included Lewiston’s Colby Miles (200 individual medley and 100 butterfly), Amy Morin (50 freestyle), Jenny Bergeron (100 freestyle), Derek Morris (100 freestyle), Amber Ouellette (500 freestyle) and Edward Little’s Tim Brodsky (500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke) and Loren Lachapelle (100 backstroke).