ONONDAGA COUNTY – After starting 0-2, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls swim team took off, claiming victories in six consecutive meets before a narrow defeat to Skaneaaeles.
The Northstars’ fifth win in a row came Tuesday night at New Hartford, where it was close for a while before a key late stretch of team and individual victories powered C-NS past the Spartans 104-81.
It all turned in the 200-yard freestyle relay. There, Bryn Myers, Brittany Wood, Kate Gucciardi and Alayna Harbaugh tore to a time of one minute, 47.42 seconds, just beating out the 1:47.64 New Hartford posted.
Then, in the 100 backstroke, the Northstars swept the top three, Gucciardi going 1:05.41 to beat Alexa Kulakowski (1:09.92) with Grace Devinney (1:11.27). And in the 100 breaststroke, Cassidy Svoboda got first place in 1:15.41.
Prior to this, Harbaugh had swept to victory in the sprints, going 26.26 seconds to take the 50 freestyle and, in the 100 freestyle, nabbing first place in 59.16 seconds.
Myers had held off the Spartans’ Julie Ficano, 2:08.78 to 2:09.47, in the 200 freestyle, while Kaitlyn Carroll, in a top-flight diving competition, needed 290.40 points to hold off the 276.45 from the Spartans’ Labella Kolb.
Gucciardi, Harbaugh, Wood and Svoboda started the meet by winning the 200 medley relay in 2:01.06. Gucciardi took second in the 200 individual medley in 2:31.12, with Wood second in the 100 butterfly in 1:09.84.
C-NS then had a three-team meet on Thursday at Skaneateles along with Auburn. The Northstars beat the Maroons 72-49, but saw its win streak ended by the Lakers 93-88.
Carroll continued her strong work on the diving board, picking up 243.65 points. But only twice did C-NS get individual wins against Skaneateles, when Gucciardi took the 100 backstroke in 1:04.49 and Svoboda claimed the 100 breaststroke in 1:13.57.
In five other races, C-NS was second to the Lakers, whether it was Gucciardi going 1:04.41 in the 100 butterfly but having Skaneateles star Hana Spaulding win in 59.11, or Harbaugh, in 57.33 seconds, edged by Elizabeth Springer (57.02) in the 100 freestyle.
Second-place finishes also went to Myers (200 IM, 2:27.19), Devinney (500 freestyle, 6:05.02) and Ella Lawrence (200 freestyle, 2:14.41).
Guccardi, Svoboda, Wood and Harbaugh sped to a clocking of 1:56.76 in the 200 medley relay just behind the Lakers’ 1:56.76. Myers, Harbaugh, Wood and Gucciardi were second (1:44.24) to Skaneateles (1:42.75) in a quick 200 freestyle relay.
After back-to-back losses to unbeaten Christian Brothers Academy and Fayetteville-Manlius, Liverpool returned to the win column Wednesday when it handled Oswego 102-83.
Delaney Gellert won a pair of events for the Warriors, swimming the 200 IM in 2:22.03 before she went to the 100 freestyle and, in 54.57 seconds, fended off the 55.01 from the Buccaneers’ Sydney DeLapp.
Kaitlyn Thompson was first in the 50 freestyle, going 26.06 seconds as Oswego’s Aunna Metelsky (26.57) was runner-up. Aija McIntyre, with 220.80 points, prevailed in diving as Makenna Dudley took second with 201.38 points.
Dominique DeRuijter, in 1:06.91, was a close second to DeLapp (1:06.58) in the 100 backstroke, but paired with Kerry Hunter, Morgan Kenna and Russo to win the 200 medley relay in 2:07.16, edging the Bucs’ 2:07.34.
Hunter grabbed second place in the 100 breaststroke in 1:23.80, while DeRuijter took second in the 500 freestyle in 5:47.73.
Thompson, Hunter, Delaney Gellert and Emerson Gellert went 1:45.88 in the 200 freestyle relay, just beat out by Oswego’s 1:45.72. It was close in the 400 freestyle relay, too, with the Bucs going 3:56.52 while Thompson, DeRuijter and the Gellert sisters went 3:57.10.
Meets at Syracuse and Jamesville-DeWitt close out the season for Liverpool next week, with C-NS set to face Auburn once more.
