Some girls swim teams begin a season with a head-to-head match-up. Skaneateles had two of them at once.
But the defending Section III Class C champion Lakers conquered the challenge, going to Mexico on Friday and earning a sweep, topping the host Tigers 103-83 while also defeating the Watertown Cyclones 105-81.
Leah King led the way with a pair of individual titles. King first prevailed in the 50-yard freestyle, going 26.63 seconds as Lily Buchholz (27.70 seconds) made it a 1-2 Skaneateles finish. Then, in the 100 butterfly, King, in a time of 1:06.70, pulled far clear of Mexico’s Staci Clifford (1:17.11) for the top spot.
Buchholz, for her part, was victorious in the 100 backstroke, her time of 1:09.69 enough to hold off Watertown’s Hailey Alvarado (1:11.59) and finish in front. This came after she helped Skaneateles win the opening 200 medley relay, pairing with Rose Keady, Grace King and Taylor Hill for first place in 2:05.07.
Rachel Teixeira earned the Lakers’ other individual title, going through the 100 freestyle in 1:00.36, with the Tigers’ Desiree Mullen (1:05.82) in the runner-up spot. Teixeira also was second (2:10.96) to Mexico’s Julia Lamb (2:05.35) in the 200 freestyle.
Keady’s best finish came in the 200 individual medley, where she posted 2:37.62 behind the Tigers’ Jessie Faulkner (2:27.09). Tara Chalupnicki accumulated 164.2 points on the diving board, just behind the 174.35 points earned by Mexico’s Vivian Hollland.
Ashley Drotar and Sienna Senn joined Teixeira and Keady as Skaneateles finished second (1:57.39) to Watertown (1:54.77) in the 200 freestyle relay. Later, in the 400 freestyle relay, Buccholz, Grace King, Veronica Ryan and Alexis Teachout finished in 4:14.74, just behind Mexico’s time of 4:12.43.
The Lakers have its home opener Tuesday night against Oswego at the Community Center, and host Holland Patent and Southern Cayuga in another three-way meet on Friday night.
