Not since the creation of the merged Cicero-North Syracuse High School a quarter-century ago had the Northstars’ girls swim team ever claimed anything close to a league championship. But all that changed Wednesday night at Nottingham High School’s pool, where CNS fought past Fayetteville-Manlius 101.5-84.5 and earned its first CNY Counties League regular-season title — while also dethroning the defending champions and ending F-M’s 22-meet win streak. Part of the obstacle CNS faced in years past was the fact that it does not have a home pool, forced instead to go to LeMoyne College for “home” meets. Despite this, the Northstars’ program has steadily improved in recent years. And with proven veterans like Regina LaRosa and Nicole Blidy, plus a terrific group of divers, CNS had gone 8-0 in league meets in 2009 leading up to the F-M showdown. The decisive move came early, after F-M won the meet-opening 200 medley relay (1:57.11). Emily Altier stepped up and delivered her best performance of the season in the 200 freestyle, prevailing in a time of 2:06.74. LaRosa was next, winning the 200 individual medley in 2:19.68. And when Blidy held off the F-M stars in the 50 freestyle with her top time of 26.57 seconds, CNS had the points lead for good. In a showdown with the Hornets Amy Bright, the Northstars went 1-2 in diving, building its margin as Stacie DeCarr won with 218.63 points and Chrissy Howard took second. Hadley Cameron-Carter led a brief Hornet resurgence, as she won both the 100 freestyle (55.94 seconds) and 100 backstroke (1:03.54), plus helped F-M’s 200 freestyle relay team prevail in 1:46.05. Also, Melissa James prevailed (1:11.58) in the 100 breaststroke. Amid all this, though, LaRosa struck again, winning the 500 freestyle in 5:23.83, and CNS got enough high finishes in other races to clinch the meet and league title. Still, the Northstars finished with a championship flourish as LaRosa, Altier, Amanda Telesca and Kasey Simmons took the 400 freestyle relay in 4:01.25. In a week’s time, CNS would be back at Nottingham, seeking more glory during the Section III championship meet that runs from Nov. 4 through 7.