Cindi Howard, who led Bangor High School girls swimming and diving teams to six Class A state championships during her 23-year tenure, recently resigned her head coaching position.
“It was my honor to coach at Bangor High School. I enjoyed all of my teams. It was a hard decision, but it is time,” she said this week.
Under Howard’s direction, Ram swimmers won individual state titles, set Penobscot Valley Conference and state records, earned All-State, Swimmer of the Year, NISCA All-Academic , and NISCA All-American recognitions.
Howard said she will continue to coach Bangor’s middle school swim program.
Prior to coaching the Rams, Howard coached high school and USA swimming in San Diego, CA. Her first coaching assignment came at the age of 18, when she coached a YMCA team.
“I have coached swimming for many years. It is time to step down,” she said.
In addition to coaching swimming at Bangor High, Howard has coached the boys tennis team for 22 years. She will continue as BHS tennis coach as well as an assistant tennis coach at Husson University.
In other swimming news, Audrey Cohen, a 2024 graduate of Greely High School, has been awarded the $5,000 Doug Springer Scholarship, presented by the Maine Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame.
The Springer Scholarship, established by Doug Springer, a member of the Maine Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame, the Old Town High School Hall of Fame and the former executive director of the Orono- Old Town YMCA, recognizes a graduating senior swimmer, diver or team manager who has demonstrated exemplary dedication and service to his or her community, school and team.
Competing for Greely at the 2024 Maine Principal’s Association Swimming and Diving Championships, Cohen, a 2023 NISCA All American, won the 200 individual medley (2:08.37) and the 100 breaststroke (1:04.0). She, along with Cape Elizabeth’s David Steinbrick, received Swimmer of the Year honors from the Maine Interscholastic Swim League.
Cohen will continue her swimming career at Penn State University this fall.
Long Reach Swim Coach Jay Morissette of the Bath YMCA has 10 LRSC swimmers competing in Ocala, FL at the five-day Long Course YMCA Nationals .
The meet includes 81 teams and approximately 1,000 swimmers and will conclude August 3.
For the LRSC swimmers, the Ocala meet is their second long course meet of the year. In the spring, the LRSC competed in Maine’s only long course meet at Colby College.
“We have very little experience in long course meter competition. We qualified based on our yard performances, ” Morissette said.
“Our swimmers tend to have good success at this meet. Because we have limited long course experience, we do not overthink our races,” he said.
Morissette said that LRSC’s training prepares swimmers to race in sprint and shorter distances in each of the four strokes.
Traditionally, LRSC swimmers have performed impressively at national meets in the sprint events. “Absolutely, we expect to continue our tradition of success in the 50 and 100 distance races,” he said.
Competing for LRSC are Charlie Carlton, Brady Chubbuck, Layla Hammer, Joshua Langworthy, Eliza Marco, Gaffney McDonough, Keegan Rowe, Aidan Saunders, Elena Trundy, and Sawyer Wright.
The Kennebec Valley YMCA and the Twin City Swim Team from the Auburn-Lewiston YMCA also qualified swimmers for the national meet.
