Given that they finished 1-2 in the regular-season standings, it only made sense that the Christian Brothers Academy and Jamesville-DeWitt girls swim teams would take control of Tuesday’s Onondaga High School League championship meet at Skaneateles Community Center.
CBA’s Summer Schmitt won twice, blazing through the 100 butterfly in 57.98 seconds and also taking the 100 backstroke in 1:00.14. Maggie Fletcher needed 25.48 seconds to prevail in the 50 freestyle and, in the 100 freestyle, won again in 54.70 seconds.
Kathryn Coughlin pulled away from the field and claimed the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.39, this after a second (55.89 seconds) to Fletcher in the 100 freestyle.
Coughlin joined Schmitt, Honor Bowman and Elizabeth Catalano to win the 200 medley relay in 1:56.01, and in the 400 freestyle relay Fletcher, Schmitt, Lexy McCauley and Kendall Sangster earned another win in 3:54.39.
Also for CBA, Courtney Finkbeiner was third in the 500 freestyle in 5:56.11 and fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:16.51), while Catalano was sixth in both the 50 and 100 free. Bowman got sixth in the 100 butterfly as Shannon Gross took fifth in the 500 free and McCauley gained fifth in the 100 backstroke.
J-D did beat CBA in the 200 freestyle relay in, arguably, the best race of the meet. Kalie Coyne, Sophia Farchione, Amanda Behan and Morgan Pusey needed 1:46.25 to hold off CBA, who was second in 1:46.66, the difference of less than half a second. The Red Rams’ B unit was third in 1:51.53.
On her own, Coyne was first in the 200 individual medly, winning that event in 2:20.98. Moving to the 100 butterfly, Coyne, in 1:01.52, gained second place, with teammates Hayley Schultz (1:10.50) and Morgan Gunther (1:10.58) third and fourth, respectively.
Coyne, Behan, Farchione and Molly Hair were second in the 200 medley relay (1:57.71), while Pusey was second (26.92 seconds) and Behan third (27.09 seconds) behind Fletcher in the 50 free. Behan added a third in the 100 freestyle, edging Hair, 58.19 to 58.40 seconds, for that spot as Pusey moved to seventh place.
Alden Coyne contended in the 500 freestyle, gaining second place (5:45.77) behind Manlius-Pebble Hill/Westhill’s Rachel Perry, who won in 5:36.44. Farchione rose to third in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.22, where Meghan Engstrom was sixth.
Hair, with her second-place clocking of 1:13.10 in the 100 breaststroke, finished ahead of Schultz, in fourth place (1:18.24), and Erin Noble (1:19.52), who was fifth. Meghan Bynes took fifth (2:16.84) in the 200 free as Katie Hughes grabbed sixth in the 500 free.
Pusey, Byrnes, Farchione and Alden Coyne were fourth (4:11.40) in the 400 freestyle relay as MPH/Westhill (4:04.89) was second. Also for the Trojans, Perry got second in the 100 backstroke, just behind Schmitt in 1:01.46, and Nika Jonas was fifth in the 100 butterfly.
Phoebe Patrician was seventh in the 50 freestyle, with Holly LaVoy seventh in the 100 breaststroke. Patrician, LaVoy, Jonas and Perry were third (2:05.15) behind CBA and J-D in the 200 medley relay.
As those local teams look ahead to his week’s Section III championship meet at Nottingham, Fayetteville-Manlius hosted Oswego at that Auburn pool and lost, 99-84, to the Maroons.
Some of the races proved extremely close. The long 500 freestyle saw Katie Pechacek finish second to Auburn’s Michaela Elliott by one-hundredth of a second, 5:27.83 to Elliott’s 5:27.82.
Just the same, in the 200 freestyle Pechacek finished in 2:02.39, but Elliott won in 2:02.31. Also, Grace Garver, in 1:10.25, took a close defeat to Tiffani Chehovich (1:09.61) in the 100 butterfly.
But Julie Barger did win the 100 backstroke in 1:10.34 and Kristen Wishart, with 198.5 points, prevailed in diving. Barger, Pechacek, Cathleen Trespasz and Caroline Mortelliti took the 400 freestyle relay in 4:12.08. Gabby Hall was second in the 200 IM in 2:37.32.
