Each close victory attained by the West Genesee girls swim team in Wednesday night’s regular-season finale against Baldwinsville was necessary.
Since the Bees were picking up so many second and third-place efforts, and also sweeping the first two relays, the Wildcats had to wait until the final race to go in front for good and deliver a 93-89 victory over the Bees.
Things were still in doubt going into the 400-yard freestyle relay. But WG’s quartet of Maddie Zapisek, Mikki Riley, Hannah Jasinski and Gabby Shuron finished in four minutes, 7.74 seconds to gain first place in that event and get the clinching points.
Already, Zapisek had earned first place in the 200 freestyle in 2:09.92, where Shuron finished third in 2:11.67. Then, in the 100 freestyle, Zapisek needed 59.40 seconds to snare first place, nearly two seconds ahead of B’ville’s Erin Mordaunt (1:01.39).
A key to the victory was the Wildcats prevailing in several close races. It started in the 50 freestyle, where Jasinski needed 27.16 seconds to fend off Mordaunt (27.73 seconds) as Jenna Mellen grabbed third place in 27.82 seconds. Jasinski also was second (1:17.40) to the Bees’ Noelle Staso (1:11.63) in the 100 breaststroke.
In the 100 butterfly, Riley went 1:10.36, a full second ahead of B’ville’s Allison Lange (1:11.43), while in the 500 freestyle Abrianna Gittschau had to race the Bees’ Clare Burke to the line, winning in 5:54.47 to Burke’s 5:54.78.
B’ville didn’t challenge in the diving competion, so the Wildcats went 1-2-3, with Claire Kitts earning 183.67 points ahead of Grace VanHoven (162.15 points) and Cassie Lenhardt (160.05 points). Shuron was second in the 100 backstroke in 1:11.13, with Riley second in the 200 individual medley in 2:33.47.
WG now will practice and prepare for the Section III championships at Nottingham High School, which start with the Class A meet on Friday at noon and continue with the state qualifier on Sunday, where berths in the Nov. 18-19 state meet at Ithaca College are at stake.
