A strong combination of depth and variety would help the Baldwinsville girls swim team to a major early-season conquest.
The Bees beat visiting Liverpool 56-38 Wednesday night at the Baker High School pool, saving some of its best performances for the latter part of the meet.
It turned out that the first three races were pivotal. Samantha Sidorakis, Charis Parker, Emma Atkinson and Kaitlyn Martin combined to post 1:59.07 and beat the Warriors (2:02.65) in the 200 medley relay.
A close battle in the 200 freestyle followed. The Bees’ Amanda Johnson and the Warriors’ Madison Hall battled it out, nearly touching the wall at the same time – but it was Johnson, in 2:13.59, edging Hall (2:13.62) and adding to B’ville’s margin.
Then the hosts went 1-2 in the 200 individual medley, Parker winning in 2:22.36 and Brooke Atkinson (2:29.36) working her way to second place.
From there, the Bees made sure it got runner-up finishes from Martin (in the 50 freestyle) and Sidorakis (in the 100 freestyle) behind Liverpool’s Madeline Murphy, while Atkinson got second in the 100 butterfly in 1:06.53, inches back of the Warriors’ Sydnie Sovinsky (1:06.33).
Martin would get her victory in the 500 freestyle with a clocking of 5:53.44, more than 16 seconds ahead of the Warriors’ Stephanie Adams. Another close race followed in the 100 backstroke, where Sidorakis, in 1:06.37, was just behind Liverpool’s Olivia Corlett (1:06.11).
B’ville would finish strong, though. Parker won the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.96, backed up by Atkinson (1:17.72) in second place.
Following that, Martin, Sidorakis, Margaret Walsh and Elena Margrey closed out the meet by winning the 400 freestyle relay in 4:06.19, more than two seconds ahead of Liverpool’s time of 4:08.32.
Margrey, Walsh, Parker and Eubank swam the 200 freestyle relay in 1:52.84, behind the Warriors, who won in 1:49.64. Another tough meet awaits B’ville this Wednesday, when it visits Auburn.
