Cony senior Noah Aube has been making music in and out of the pool for years given his passion for both swimming and playing the piano. After he took sixth in the 500-yard freestyle and seventh in the 200-yard freestyle in the Class A state championship races his junior year, Aube changed his tune to shorter events and was even more successful.
“This was the first year I focused on sprinting. In past years I’ve focused on distance races,” he said.
2016 Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel BOYS SWIMMING ALL STARS
200 medley relay: Waterville (Isaiah Bernier, Carter Jones, John Reisert, Alan Baez)
200 freestyle: Noah Aube, Cony
200 individual medley: John Reisert, Waterville
50 freestyle: Ben Thibert, Messalonskee
100 butterfly: Griffin Burns, Messalonskee
100 freestyle: Noah Aube, Cony
500 freestyle: Nathan Ruel, Messalonskee
200 freestyle relay: Cony (Nathaniel Berry, Logan Testerman, Dale Lapierre, Noah Aube)
100 backstroke: Nathaniel Berry, Cony
100 breaststroke: Ben Thibert, Messalonskee
400 freestyle relay: Cony (Noah Aube, Logan Testerman, Andrew Levesque, Nathaniel Berry)
The transition was a good one. At the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A championship meet, Aube won the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle and was part of the victorious 200-yard freestyle relay team that beat defending conference champion Brunswick by four one-hundredths of a second.
For his efforts this season, Aube is Kennebec Journal Boys Swimmer of the Year.
“He has become more versatile of a swimmer over his four years. He was a leader by examples by what he did in the pool and by putting in the time in the offseason,” said Cony coach Jon Millett.
A week later at the Class A state meet, Aube took second place in the 50 freestyle (22.05) and the 100 freestyle (48.54) races. His finish is even more impressive given that the winner of the 50 freestyle event, Brunswick senior Noah Samson, set a meet record with a time of 21.41.
“I was very pleased at the state meet. The guy who won is very fast; it was one of my fastest times so it was great to take second place,” said Aube.
At one point this season, the Cony senior held seven of the eight team records on the board that stares down swimmers every day at their home pool, the YMCA in Augusta.
“Since freshman year, I’ve wanted to get as many of the records on the board. At some point, I had all of them but the 100 breaststroke,” Aube said.
Aube attributes his piano playing and practice as a key attribute during his practices and races.
“A lot of times in races, I will purposefully get a song in my head to get a certain tempo. It’s usually never the same two songs,” commented Aube.
However, Aube does pay a price at the piano during the swimming season.
“In the winter, it is hard to practice because my fingers are so stiff from swimming.”
Aube has applied to 19 different colleges and universities and is undecided about where he will be in the fall, but hopes to continue his swimming career regardless.
“He is going to be successful wherever he goes,” Millett said.
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