Facing one of its most challenging meets of the season, the Baldwinsville girls swim team rose up to that challenge in a big way.
The Bees, led by Charis Parker, went to Auburn Wednesday night and gathered up points from start to finish on its way to a 93-75 victory over the Maroons and a 4-0 mark on the season.
Parker saved her best work for the homestretch. In the last individual event, the 100-yard breaststroke, Parker posted a time of one minutes, 8.79 seconds, the best in Section III this fall, which topped Auburn’s Brigid Cotter (1:13.10) by more than four seconds.
This followed Parker’s early success. She teamed with Samantha Sidorakis, Allie Connor and Kaitlyn Martin to win the 200 medley relay in 1:57.81, and in the 200 individual medley Parker’s time of 2:21.18 was her best this season, with teammate Brooke Atkinson (2:28.80) in second place.
On her own, Connor edged Atkinson, 1:06.01 to 1:06.61, in the 100 butterfly, while Martin was second in the 50 freestyle in 26.69 seconds and, in 5:46.94, was right behind the Maroons’ Jenna Page (5:45.52) in the 500 freestyle. Sidorakis got to second place in the 100 backstroke in 1:07.72.
B’ville actually went 1-2 in the 200 medley relay, seeing Lauren Guild, Brooke Atkinson, Emma Atkinson and Megan Eubank finish in 2:10.61. This made up for the runner-up finishes in the 200 freestyle (1:53.32) and 400 freestyle (4:08.52) relays.
Amanda Johnson contributed, too, with a second-place effort in the 200 freestyle in 2:13.81 behind Auburn’s Jenna Page (2:11.35). For the Maroons, Mary Jane Leja won the 50 and 100 freestyle sprints, but it wasn’t enough.
Before all this, the Bees first had to get through Monday’s tight non-league meet against visiting Skaneateles.
The Bees’ 48-44 victory got moving when Parker, Connor, Eubank and Cassandra Cherebin earned first place in the 200 medley relay, 2:01.26 to the Lakers’ 2:08.58. Later, Parker, Eubank, Connor and Margaret Walsh won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:53.89.
Individually, Parker prevailed twice, going through the 200 IM in 2:24.41 and, in the 100 breaststroke, pulling away for another victory in 1:10.49. Connor beat Emma Atkinson, 1:06.07 to 1:07.09 in the 100 butterfly, while Johnson won the 100 backstroke in 1:08.89.
Eubank got second place in the 50 freestyle (28.10 seconds), with Elena Margrey second in the 500 freestyle and Guild a close second (1:03.63) to the Lakers’ Emily Wirth (1:02.96) in the 100 freestyle. Skaneateles’ Rachel Teixieira won both the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle.
Still unbeaten after the big win at Auburn, the Bees visit Nottingham next Tuesday to meet the combined Syracuse city squad and are back home Oct. 5 to face Oswego.
