Cony swimming coach Jon Millett has had a considerable number of talented girls swimmers during his nearly two decades with the program.
Talia Jorgensen is one of the latest to carve her name on that list.
2016 Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel Girls Swimming All Stars
200 medley relay: Cony (Anne Guadalupi, Gabby Low, Molly Silsby, Talia Jorgensen)
200 freestyle: Anne Guadalupi, Cony
200 individual medley: Talia Jorgensen, Cony
50 freestyle: Talia Jorgensen, Cony
100 butterfly: Nina Boudreau, Erskine
100 freestyle: Talia Jorgensen, Cony
500 freestyle: Haley Gagne, Cony
200 freestyle relay: Cony (Molly Silsby, Tara Jorgensen, Annie Branigan, Abreal Whitman)
100 backstroke: Gabby Low, Cony
100 breaststroke: Jessica Greeley, Winslow
400 freestyle relay: Cony (Talia Jorgensen, Haley Gagne, Gabby Low, Anne Guadalupi)
The Cony freshman made a considerable impression on her coach — as well as anyone else involved in high school swimming season this year.
At the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A championship meet, Jorgensen won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 freestyle events on her way to earning swimmer of meet honors. A week later at the Class A championship meet, she took fourth in the 50 freestyle (25.40) and second in the 500 freestyle (5:21.64).
For her efforts this season, Jorgensen is the Kennebec Journal Girls Swimmer of the Year. Cony teammates Anne Guadalupi and Gabby Low were also considered.
The abundance of events Jorgensen swam this season impressed Millett.
“Arguably, she could be the best Cony swimmer ever,” he said. “Unequivocally, she is the best freshman Cony female swimmer I’ve ever had in 19 seasons.”
“I was pretty happy with my times. My goal was to have fun and try and improve my swimming,” added Jorgensen.
Despite her individual accomplishments, Jorgensen’s favorite memory of her freshman campaign was the 200-yard medley relay at the KVAC Class A championships.
“We broke the meet record (1:50.47),” said Jorgensen, who swam the relay with Guadalupi, Low and junior Molly Silsby. “We are all coming back next year and hopefully we can beat it again.”
“On the relays, she was the most consistent swimmer and you could count on her,” added Millett.
Her consistency in the relays pales in comparison to her dominance throughout the course of the season. She had at least the fifth fastest overall Class A times throughout the season in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 200 IM, 100 butterfly, 100 breaststroke and 500 freestyle events.
“She made consistent improvement and steady gains throughout the season. She improved in small increments and the bigger the meet, the better she swam,” Millett said.
Jorgensen’s sister, Cony sophomore Tara, also swims for the Rams and enjoys being on the team with her sister.
“I’m very proud of her. Even though she is younger than me, I look up to her because she is so talented and she helps out the other kids with other strokes,” said Tara.
With a young team that finished second in KVAC Class A behind perennial powerhouse Brunswick and fifth overall in Class A, the future is bright for the Cony girls swimming program.
“I’m really excited for next year. I’m going to try and improve my underwater technique to get faster, specifically my turns and starts,” Jorgensen added.
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