Now the Skaneateles girls swim team’s streak of Section III Class C championships has reached six in a row, adding up to nine titles in 10 years.
The Lakers’ latest conquest took place in front of home fans Friday night in the sectional Class C meet at the Community Center pool, where a string of victories from the likes of Rachel Teixeira, Leah King and Haley Buchholz led to more Skaneateles glory in the pool.
It proved a runaway. The Lakers amassed 459 points, nearly double the total of runner-up Thousand Islands, who had 248 points. Lowville was third with 242 points.
Teixeira began the domination in the 200-yard freestyle, going 1-2 with Halle King as Teixeira prevailed in a Section III Class C record-time of two minutes, 1.40 seconds, with King getting to second place in 2:05.51.
A second victory for Teixeira came in the 500 freestyle, where in 5:33.04 she pulled away from Holland Patent’s Sarah Harter (5:37.49) for the title, with Halle King (5:37.89) right behind Harter in third place, Taylor Hill fourth (6:02.24) and Rebecca Rottiger (6:08.48) in seventh place.
Moving to the 50 freestyle, Leah King entered the win column in 25.71 seconds, the only time under 26 seconds, with Siena Senn (27.93 seconds) in fifth place and Lily Buchholz eighth.
Later, in the 100 butterfly, King prevailed again, smashing her own school record with a victorious time of 1:01.84, with Nicholson getting to eighth place in 1:12.49.
It was Buchholz’s turn in the 200 individual medley, where she tore to victory in 2:25.20 to set a school record. Taylor Hill gave the Lakers another 1-2 sweep, finishing second in 2:34.75 behind Buccholz, with Kaleigh Nicholson (2:39.02) in fifth place.
Later in the meet, Haley Buchholz would rule in the 100 backstroke, going 1:05.74 to hold off West Canada’s Jewelia Ritter (1:07.42) for the top spot, with Lily Buchholz taking fourth place in 1:12.01.
Having only finished fourth in the 200 medley relay, Skaneateles would dominate in the 200 freestyle relay as Teixeira, Haley Buchholz, Leah King and Halle King posted 1:44.49, setting yet another school record and finishing well clear of runner-up West Canada Valley (1:50.26).
And to close out the meet, Skaneateles would cruise to first place in the 400 freestyle relay with that same quartet – Teixeira, Buchholz and the King sisters – roaring to victory in 3:46.75, more than 20 seconds clear of second-place Cooperstown (4:07.59)
Rose Keady was sixth in the 100 freestyle in 1:02.74, with Senn and Maddie Bohrer finishing in a dead heat for eighth place in 1:03.16. Keady added a seventh-place finish in the 100 breaststroke in 1:21.73.
During Sunday’s sectional state qualifier at Hamilton College, Teixeira was fifth in the 500 freestyle, improving to 5:27.82, more than five seconds faster than her work in the Class C meet.
Also, Teixeira made her way to eighth place in the 200 freestyle in 2:01.39, lowering her Class C sectional standard by 0.01 seconds. Leah King made her way to fifth place in the 50 freestyle in 25.94 seconds.
