As a whole, the Liverpool girls swim team could not match the depth provided by host West Genesee in Friday night’s Section III Class A championship meet.
But the Warriors still made a big impact, winning four different races – two of them by Madeline Murphy as she smashed a pair of pool records in the process.
Also, Olivia Corlett set a school record in the 100-yard backstroke, and head coach Zac Mekker was honored as Class A Coach of the Year for his efforts throughout the season.
Murphy was named the meet’s Most Outstanding Swimmer, starting her conquest in the 50 freestyle. With a time of 23.86 seconds, Murphy broke her first pool mark, qualified for the Nov. 22-23 state meet at Ithaca College and beat the runner-up, Auburn’s Brigid Cotter (25.46 seconds), by 1.6 seconds, a huge margin for a sprint race.
It was much the same in the 100 freestyle. Challenged by WG’s Olivia Castro (who had already won the 200 freestyle in 1:57.61), Murphy went even quicker, touching the wall in 52.53 seconds to pocket another pool record, leaving Castro (53.35 seconds) in second place, though she also qualified for the state meet.
Not to be outdone, Corlett made her own history in this meet. In the 100 backstroke, Corlett edged WG’s Brianna 1:00.11 to Smith’s 1:01.11, and in doing so set a Liverpool school mark for that event, also earning a state meet berth.
Sydnie Sovinsky made her way to the win column in the 200 individual medley, as her clocking of 2:17.50 topped Oswego’s Brooke Morrisseau (2:19.27) by 1.77 seconds, with Corlett finishing fourth in 2:24.10.
In the 100 butterfly, Sovinsky finished second to Morrisseau’s Oswego teammate, Caitlin Gorton (58.26 seconds), but Sovinsky’s time of 59.63 seconds helped her advance to the state meet, since the qualifying standard was 1:00.02.
Liverpool, overall, picked up 325 points, taking third place in the 11-team field. WG, getting big point totals in multiple events (three of the top five in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke), had 458 points, while Oswego (360 points) got second place. Cicero-North Syracuse was seventh with 178 points.
In the 200 freestyle relay, Murphy, joining Sovinsky, Corlett and Madison Hall, qualified for the state meet as they finished second in 1:40.91 behind Oswego, who won in 1:39.71.
Sovinsky and Corlett, paired with Nicole Abbott and Madison Hall, gave Liverpool a third-place time of 1:56.13 in the 200 medley relay, beaten by Oswego (1:52.39) and WG (1:54.52), who both broke the pool record. C-NS’s quartet of Breanna Ruffrage, Kelly Festa, Kayla Massena and Lizzy Hall got fifth place in 2:00.76.
Julia Telesca was fourth in the 500 freestyle in 5:37.84 and took sixth in the 200 freestyle in 2:06.03, while Claire Donovan was sixth in the 200 IM behind Sovinsky and Corlett.
When the top swimmers from all the classes gathered at Hamilton College for Sunday’s overall sectional meet, Murphy was honored as the Section III Swimmer of the Year – and she went out and proved it again with another sprint sweep.
In a close 100 freestyle, Murphy improved her best time to 52.43 seconds, setting a Hamilton pool record, and needed it since Castro tore to second place in 52.63 seconds to push her.
Oddly, Murphy had a bigger winning margin in the shorter event, the 50 freestyle. Though her time of 24.10 seconds didn’t match the effort in the Class A meet, she still beat Jamesville-DeWitt’s Alden Coyne (24.60 seconds) by half a second.
Challenged by J-D’s Molly Hair in the final of the 100 backstroke, Corlett stepped up again, lowering her school-record time to 59.31 seconds to edge Hair (59.43 seconds) and secure first place.
Meanwhile, Sovinsky was third in the 200 IM in 2:16.93 as she, teamed with Murphy, Telesca and Hall, got third place in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:41.27.
