SKANEATELES – It only took two meets in the 2022 season for Baldwinsville girls swimmer Eva Smith to book her place in November’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship meet.
Smith, ninth last fall in the state in the 100-yard backstroke, shattered the state qualifying standard during Tuesday’s meet at Skaneateles that also featured the combined Oswego-Mexico side.
In a time of 59.16 seconds, Smith easily surpassed the 1:00.42 she needed to reach the state meet, and then nearly did the same later in the meet in the 200 freestyle.
Pulling away from strong competition, Smith finished in 1:57., just short of the 1:57.24 needed for the state meet, though there is still plenty of time to reach that standard.
B’ville lost 123-60 to Oswego-Mexico and 123-59 to Skaneateles on the team side, but had Addy Grosso earn times that qualified them for the Section III meet later this fall when she went 29.21 seconds in the 50 freestyle and 6:08.64 in the 500 freestyle.
Mia Rinko went 1:00.57 in the 100 freestyle and 1:20.29 in the 100 breaststroke as she joined Smith, Grosso and Henna Luke to go 2:07.18 in the 200 medley relay. Smith, Grosso, Rinko and Elianna Leggett swam the 200 freestyle relay in 1:55.80.
Aside from Smith, another star at this meet was Alexa von Holtz from Oswego/Mexico, who qualified for the state meet with blazing times of 2:08.35 in the 200 individual medley and 57.60 seconds in the 100 butterfly.
B’ville is back home next Tuesday to take on Liverpool, right before a Thursday trip to West Genesee.
