As a strong capstone to an undefeated season that included a Section III Class A championship, West Genesee’s girls swim team, led by Olivia Castro, set a string of school records during the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship, held Friday and Saturday at Ithaca College.
Castro had her best showing in the 200-yard freestyle. She qualified for the finals with a time of 1:54.90, and then improved to 1:50.28 in that championship race, setting a school record in the process and finishing ninth. Massapequa’s Molly Treble won that race in 1:49.28.
In the 100 freestyle, Castro swam to a time of 52.68 seconds on Friday afternoon, just missing the state final, but still went faster in Saturday’s consolation race and, in 52.65 seconds, made her way to 11th place. Liverpool’s Madeline Murphy was ninth (52.27 seconds) as Orchard Park’s Andrea Ernst, in 50.88 seconds, took the top spot.
WG set another school record in the 400 freestyle, where Castro, teaming with Sinead Guy, Becca Kamoza and Brianna Smith, qualified for the final in 3:39.03 and then had a 3:38.39 in the championship race, just below the Section III mark of 3:37.78. Clarence (Section VI) won that race in 3:26.98.
Kaitlin Dunning joined Castro, Guy and Smith in the 200 freestyle relay, where the Wildcats raced Friday to a time of 1:40.96, again just outside the final spot, and again finishing 11th when that quartet swam Saturday’s consolation race in 1:39.40 as Pittsford (1:35.54) got the top spot.
West Genesee also had a strong team showing, earning 73 points to take 14th place out of the 89 teams that picked up points during the state meet. Clarence, with 241 points, edged Pittsford (231 points) for the state team title.
