Bent on protecting its undefeated mark, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls swim team took a serious challenge from New Hartford Wednesday night at the Le Moyne College pool, but did enough to beat the Spartans by a 95-90 margin.
It wasn’t until the last race that the win was secured. That was because C-NS had its 400 freestyle relay team of Sarah Walter, Brooke Fedi, Lauren Thorne and Grace Devinney go 4:01.13 to earn second place points (the Spartans won in 3:55.63) and clinch the meet.
Long before that, C-NS gained the points edge with second and third-place finishes in the 200 medley relay, followed by Thorne going 2:05.51 to hold off New Hartford’s Maddy Kramer (2:07.58) and win the 200 freestyle.
Then Fedi earned first place in the 200 individual medley in 2:18.60, with Rolf (2:24.04) getting third place, while Kiersten Coates (26.46 seconds) and Olivia Griffin (27.11 seconds) were second and third, respectively, with Coates just behind the Spartans’ Taylor Dontino (26.44 seconds) in the 50 freestyle. Fedi added a second-place 100 butterfly finish in 1:04.01,
A big point edge was secured by the Northstars’ sweep of the top three diving spots. Miranda Frascatore won it, earning 231.4 points, while Coates nearly matched her and finished second with 228.05 points, ahead of Laura Gerber (163.85 points) in third place.
Three straight C-NS wins would follow. Walter, in 57.85 seconds, fended off Dontino (58.47 seconds) in the 100 freestyle, with Thorne, in 5:35.38, pulling away from the Spartans’ Kim MacDonald (5:42.20) in the 500 freestyle as Griffin, Rolf, Coates and Thorne won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:47.21 to New Hartford’s 1:50.03.
Following that, Carla Champagne was second in the 100 backstroke in 1:08.86, with Devinney (1:11.28) in third place. Rolf managed to finish second in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:13.12, exactly one second behind New Hartford’s Gabby Ficano (1:12.12), setting up the final race.
C-NS competed again Friday night, at Mexico, and again came out with a victory, holding off the Tigers 95-85.
Thorne led the way, swimming with Baldwin, Rolf and Brandi Feeney in a winning 200 medley relay (2:07.76) before, on her own, taking the 200 IM in 2:24.33, with Festa in second place (2:32.42), and winning the 100 butterfly in 1:08.86 as Walter (1:11.24) got the runner-up spot.
Walter did win the 50 freestyle, finishing in 26.81 seconds as Rolf, second in that race, would beat the field in the 100 freestyle in 1:00.16, with Baldwin second. Griffin, Thorne, Baldwin and Alyssa LaFace swam the 200 freestyle relay in 1:51.19 as Frascatore (261.85 points), Coates (215.2 points) and Gerber (165.0 points) again pulled off a diving sweep.
Meanwhile, Liverpool found itself facing another undefeated side, Jamesville-DeWitt, on that same night. Despite a pair of wins from Sydnie Sovinsky and a diving sweep, the Warriors lost, 95-85, to the Red Rams, who improved its mark to 8-0.
Sovinsky first struck in the 200 IM, where her time of 2:17.38 easily beat J-D’s Meredith Wagner (2:29.24) and the field. Then, in the 100 freestyle, Sovinsky got a time of 55.51 seconds, with two Red Rams, Emma Galletta (58.57 seconds) and Samantha Coombs (59.34 seconds), trailing her.
Alyssa Vadala, who qualified for the state championships with her Oct. 17 victory in the Syracuse Diving Invitational, won here, too, getting 252.95 points as part of a 1-2-3 Liverpool sweep on the diving board. Sarah LaValley was second, with 219.04 points, with Kelley Townley (211.55 points) getting third place.
Liverpool won just one other individual race – the 100 breaststroke, where Marissa Pisegna got a time of 1:22.93 and Anne-Marie Hempei (1:25.14). And J-D took two of three relays, leaving only the 400 freestyle relay to the Warriors as Sovinsky, Maddie Rose, Ali Testone and Jaida Fox posted 3:58.11.
Lauren Flynn finished second in the 100 backstroke in 1:14.76 to J-D’s Amelia Hesler (1:08.75), with Testone third in the 500 freestyle in 5:56.53. J-D’s Marissa Potamianos led her side with victories in the 200 freestyle (2:03.81) and 500 freestyle (5:34.50).
