For at least this season, the balance of power in girls swimming in the CNY Counties League has shifted to Cicero-North Syracuse, who now has full command of the league race.
Any doubts about that issue were silenced Thursday night, when the Northstars made the short trip to Liverpool and got the upper hand in this long-standing rivalry, relying on superior depth to defeat the Warriors 97-86.
No single C-NS swimmer won two race, but five of them – Lauren Thorne, Kiersten Coates, Sarah Walter, Brooke Fedi and Jamie Rolf – won one race apiece, steadily putting away the Warriors while also claiming each of the first two relays.
In the opening race, the 200-yard medley relay, Coates, Fedi and Rolf, joined by Christina Champagne, battled Liverpool’s quartet of Ally Testone, Maddie Rose, Sydnie Sovinsky and Jaida Fox to the wire, and C-NS won it by a tiny margin in one minute, 59.64 seconds, just 0.14 seconds ahead of the Warriors’ time of 1:59.78.
Then the individual work started, Thorne swimming the 200 freestyle in 2:07.21 to beat Rose’s 2:09.39, right before Coates, in 26.63 seconds, and Olivia Griffin, in 26.93 seconds, gave C-NS a 1-2 finish in the 50 freestyle.
Sovinsky interrupted this run by winning the 200 individual medley in 2:17.23, and would later add another title in the 500 freestyle in 5:30.27, though Thorne (5:33.02) wasn’t far behind.
Fedi was second in the 200 IM in 2:20.32, tailing Sovinsky and waiting for her moment – which would come in the 100 backstroke, where she rolled to first place in 1:04.98 and Champagne, in 1:10.41, produced another 1-2 Northstars effort.
Walter won the 100 freestyle, going 58.47 seconds to beat out Rose (59.79 seconds) for the top spot. Rolf waited until the 100 breaststroke to get to the top, her time of 1:11.56 just enough to hold off Testone (1:13.89), who did win the 100 butterfly in 1:08.06 to Kelly Festa’s 1:09.01 for the Northstars.
Liverpool did make up some ground in diving, where Alyssa Vadala prevailed with 241.9 points over C-NS’s Miranda Frascatore (209.5 points). Vadala’s teammates, Sarah LaValley (197.6 points) and Kelley Townley (192.9 points), were third and fourth, respectively, with Coates (177.15 points) displaying her versatility and taking fifth place.
Another big moment came in the 200 freestyle relay. Walter, Rolf, Coates and Thorne roared to a time of 1:46.70, winning as Rose, Townley, Fox and Sovinsky finished second in 1:50.22. Liverpool did win the closing 400 freestyle relay as Testone, Lauren Flynn, Reilly Wolf and Avery Clarke posted 4:21.20, but it proved too late.
Still looking for its first win in 2015, Liverpool would try to get it this week against Baldwinsville or New Hartford, while C-NS met the combined Syracuse city team Tuesday night at its home pool at Le Moyne College.
