With the likes of Noelle Staso and Lauren Burchill in top form, the Baldwinsville girls swim team nearly earned some big victories during Friday night’s Section III Class A championship meet at West Genesee High School.

The close calls started in the 200-yard medley relay, where Staso, Burchill, Brooke Atkinson and Amanda Johnson posted one minute, 57.55 seconds, taking third place, though Oswego pulled away to win in 1:51.27.

Then Staso went to the 200 freestyle, where in 2:01.42 she again took third, behind the duel at the top where WG’s Olivia Castro, named the meet’s Most Outstanding Swimmer, edged Oswego’s Caitlin Gorton, 1:54.50 to 1:54.78. The Bees’ Lauren Guild finished 14th in 2:12.59.

To end her individual side of the meet, Staso, swimming in the 500 freestyle, earned a time of 5:29.26 and, again, got third place. Liverpool’s Sydnie Sovinsky (5:19.07) and Cicero-North Syracuse’s Lauren Thorne (5:27.01) went 1-2.

Burchill would get within inches of a victory in the 100 breaststroke. Dueling with C-NS’s Jamie Rolf, Burchill touched in 1:12.17, but that left her in second place as Rolf prevailed in 1:12.07. Grace Smith added a seventh-place finish in 1:15.68.

Atkinson would contend in the 100 butterfly, posting 1:02.17 for third place behind Gorton (56.80 seconds) and the Wildcats’ Shannon Cahalan (1:01.26). In the 200 individual medley, Atkinson got to fourth place in 2:23.78 as Burchill finished 14th.

Johnson had her best finish in the 100 backstroke, getting to a time of 1:04.60, not far from the winning 1:01.54 from WG’s Shannon Cahalan. Also, Johnson grabbed 11th place in the 100 freestyle in 58.78 seconds.

Guild, Atkinson, McKenna Redmore and Grace Smith worked together for fourth place in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:54.25, again with Oswego (1:40.24) on top. And in the 400 freestyle relay, Guild, Staso, Atkinson and Johnson went 4:00.27, again taking fourth place, this time with WG pulling away for a victory in 3:45.23.

As a team, B’ville would earn 237 points, putting them in fifth place. West Genesee repeated as sectional champions, earning 364 points to hold off C-NS (344 points), Oswego (336 points) and Liverpool (334 points) at the top.

Two days later, in the sectional state qualifier at Hamilton College, B’ville picked up 136 points to finish eighth, watching as Jamesville-DeWitt, who was second to New Hartford in the Class B sectional meet, won the George Farwell Cup with 331 points, with New Hartford second, Oswego third and West Genesee settling for fourth place.

Individually, Staso got to fourth place in the 500 freestyle, going nearly two seconds faster and finishing in 5:27.39. She also took fifth place in the 200 freestyle, improving to 2:00.38, while Atkinson was seventh in the 100 butterfly in 1:00.38.

Johnson, in the 100 backstroke, made her way to seventh place in 1:05.34, while Burchill went 1:13.50 in the 100 breaststroke to snag eighth place. Also, in the 200 medley relay, Atkinson, Burchill, Johnson and Staso took fifth place in 2:00.56.