With Lochmere and Prestonwood absent from Saturday’s Cary City Invitational, the revelation of the final standings at the conclusion of the 27th annual swim meet was sure to bring additional intrigue for the first time since the first George Bush was in the White House.

Prestonwood had won the previous four championships, while Lochmere took 13 straight prior to that.

“Because they weren’t here, we knew we had a chance of getting first,” said Stacy Merrick, Scottish Hills’ co-head coach. “So we really wanted it. The one year we might get first, we wanted to take that.”

And the Sea Lions did, winning the title for the third time in meet history and first time since 1983. Scottish Hills came back from sitting in third place after the morning session and finished the day with 1,335.5 points to Wellsley’s 1,234.5. The 92-point margin of victory represents the closest meet since since 2005, when Prestonwood edged Lochmere by 7.5 points.

“It was too close for comfort,” said Phillip Lamb, Scottish Hills’ other head coach.

The Sea Lions benefitted from having the most swimmers in the 21-team field. With 104 swimmers, they were the only team with more than 100, and they had 28 more than Wellsley’s 76-swimmer contingent. Scottish Hills’ 331 total entries dwarfed the Wave’s 247, and no other team had more than 149.

Yet with the math on their side, the Sea Lions needed contributions from everyone in order to pull out the victory. Of the 64 events swam, Scottish Hills won just four of them, and they were all relays: the girls’ 9-10 100 freestyle, the girls’ 11-12 200 medley, the girls’ 11-12 200 freestyle and the boys’ 13-14 200 freestyle.

Scottish Hills got a huge boost from their 59 female swimmers, who accounted for 864 points of the team’s total score. Six-year-olds Tess Rodgers and Jordan Barish scored 34 and 31 points, respectively, the second- and third-most in the 6-and-under age group. Rodgers was second in both the 25 freestyle and the 25 backstroke. Barish was third in the 25 freestyle and fourth in the 25 backstroke.

Catherine Grimes, 18, was among the Sea Lions who competed in the event for the final time. She was third in the 50 freestyle (26.35), fifth in the 50 backstroke (31.22) and fifth in the 50 butterfly (29.37 seconds). Though she won’t compete anymore, so hopes to return next summer.

“I want to coach next year,” said Grimes, whose 44 points were sixth most in the 15-18 division. “I’ll still come back.” On the boys’ side, Scottish Hills ranked seventh, with 471.5 points. Will Adcock had 36 points in the 7-8 division, Patrick O’Mara had 36 in the 11-12 division, Benjamin Miller had 49 in the 13-14 division and Michael Rosenberg scored 23 in the 15-18 division.

Abbington’s 668 points were most of any boys’ team. The Alligators were paced by Landon Lauffer’s wins in the 6-and-under 25 backstroke and 25 freestyle and Peter Compton’s wins in the 7-8 25 backstroke and the 25 breaststroke. Michael Tarrant won the 13-14 50 breaststroke.

But the day belonged to Scottish Hills. If winning the meet for the first time since before any current team members were born wasn’t satisfying enough, where it happened made it even more so.

“It’s amazing,” Merrick said. “It’s especially nice to do it at our own pool.”

Record breakers

In 2006, when Scottish Hills last hosted the Invitational, all 64 meet records remained in tact by the end of the day. In 2004, only one meet record was broken.

Perhaps to make up for the past, six records went down on Saturday.

Walden Creek’s Christian Schmidt, Ryan Moore, Parker Fredrick and Spencer Edeal set a new record in the 7-8 100 medley relay. They won the event in 1:14.86, which broke the 11-year-old mark by 4.26 seconds.

Tyler Silver of Shepherds Vineyard broke a nine-year-old record in the 9-10 25 butterfly, winning the event in 13.17 seconds, besting the old mark by .23 seconds.

Dutchman Downs’ girls’ 15-18 200 medley relay team set a new record time of 1:55.63, breaking the old mark by .98 seconds, which dated to 1997.

Abbington’s Henriette Stenquist set a new 13-14 50 freestyle record. Her time of 24.48 seconds broke the meet record, established in 2003, by .44 seconds. Stenquist also broke the record she set last year in the 50 backstroke. Her time of 27.59 seconds Saturday was .41 seconds faster than her pace of a year ago.

Dominick Glavich, who set three 13-14 division records in 2007, continued to rewrite the record books in a new age group this year. He broke the year-old 15-18 50 breaststroke record with a time of 27.76 seconds, .21 seconds faster than the record set in 2007.

With Saturday’s six new records, more than half of the meet’s best times (35) have been set in the last six years.

60-point club

Five swimmers compiled 60 individual points on Saturday.

Tyler Silver of Shepherds Vineyard won the 9-10 25 freestyle (12.57 seconds), the 25 backstroke (14.85 seconds) and the 25 butterfly (13.17 seconds), and he anchored the 100 freestyle relay to a first-place finish.

Kildaire Farms’ Stephen Hollinshead won the 11-12 50 freestyle (26.90 seconds), the 50 backstroke (30.57 seconds) and the 50 butterfly (29.05 seconds).

MacGregor Downs’ William DeForest won the 13-14 50 freestyle (23.95 seconds), the 50 backstroke (28.31 seconds) and the 50 butterfly (25.98 seconds).

Shepherds Vineyard’s Mandy Myers won the 15-18 50 freestyle (25.16 seconds), the 50 backstroke (28.75 seconds) and the 50 butterfly (27.46 seconds).

Wellsley’s Dominick Glavich won the 15-18 50 freestyle (22.31 seconds), the 50 breaststroke (27.76 seconds) and the 50 butterfly (23.84 seconds).

Championship club

Only five teams have ever hoisted the Cary City Invitational championship trophy in the event’s 27-year history. Lochmere has won 13 times (1991-2004), Prestonwood has won four (2004-07), Kildaire Farms has won four (1982, 1988-90), Triangle Swim Club won four (1983-1987) and Scottish Hills has won three (1982-83, 2008). In the first Invitational in 1982, teams competed in two different divisions, explaining how Kildaire Farms and Scottish Hills were both winners that year.

By the numbers

21 teams
698 total swimmers
64 total events
1,335.5 points compiled by champion Scottish Hills
92 points, Scottish Hills’ margin of victory
4 events won by Scottish Hills, all relays
3 Invitational championships for Scottish Hills
104 Scottish Hills swimmers, most of any team
2 Oxxford Hunt swimmers, fewest of any team
6 records broken Saturday

Final team scores

Scottish Hills, 1,335.5
Wellsley, 1,243.5
Abbington, 1,159.5
Kildaire Farms, 1,028
Dutchman Downs, 960.5
Cary Swim Club, 915.5
Walden Creek, 816
Shepherds Vineyard, 654
Silverton, 523.5
Reserve, 461.5
MacGregor Downs, 460
Park Village, 445
Devereaux, 335
Cary Park, 320.5
Olive Chapel, 317
Scots Mill, 247
Regency, 213
Carpenter Village, 168
Charleston Village, 74
Oxxford Hunt, 51
Bentwinds, 45