While the Jamesville-DeWitt girls swim team has earned many honors already in 2015, that of overall Section III champion might prove most rewarding.
To get it, the Red Rams will have to top all others on two occasions this weekend, starting Friday with the sectional Class B meet at Nottingham and continuing at that same pool two days later with the state qualifier.
Already, the Red Rams are Onondaga High School League regular-season champions, and Wednesday it wrapped a perfect 9-0 regular season by going to Skaneateles and posting plenty of fast times in a 97-84 victory over the Lakers.
Four of J-D’s best – Alden Coyne, Marissa Potamianos, Sophia Farchione and Meg Parker – started out the meet by roaring through the 200-yard medley relay in one minute, 57.22 seconds, one of five consecutive victories the Rams would open with to build an insurmountable lead on Skaneateles.
Potamianos went on from there to win twice in individual race, swimming the 200 freestyle in 2:04.42 and tacking on a victory in the 100 freestyle in 57.73 seconds, while Coyne needed just 25.33 seconds to dominate the 50 freestyle.
Farchione went to the 100 backstroke and won that race in 1:04.74, with Riley Cappelletti taking the 100 breaststroke in 1:19.93. Amelia Hesler was first in the 200 individual medley in 2:26.25 as Megan Alkins earned 217.2 points on the diving board.
J-D would also get a victory in the 200 freestyle relay, where Coyne and Parker paired up with Alexis Phillips and Katie Salvo as the Rams posted 1;43.45, one of its best times of the fall.
Ironically, that same night Fayetteville-Manlius witnessed another end to an undefeated regular season – that of Cicero-North Syracuse, who went to 10-0 by defeating the Hornets 101-82 at the Le Moyne College pool the Northstars use as home venue.
F-M did not win a race until the 100 butterfly, when Sophie Fowler posted a top time of 1:09.48. Grace Bang beat the field in the 100 breaststroke in 1:18.42, while the 400 freestyle relay team of Fowler, Abbey Harris, Hannah Kellog and Annie Christopher finished in 4:06.62.
Harris, on her own, was second in the 200 freetsyle (2:10.65) to C-NS’s Brooke Fedi (2:08.46), and also took second in the 100 freestyle (1:00.12), while Fowler gained second in the 200 IM in 2:29.58 as the Northstars’ Lauren Thorne prevailed in 2:26.60.
Christina Burnam swam the 100 backstroke in 1:11.62 and also finished second. Fedi and Thorne each won two races to help C-NS complete its unbeaten run through the CNY Counties Leaue.
Despite the loss to the Northstars, F-M still compiled a 5-5 regular-season mark, a vast improvement from recent years, and looks for more progress in the Class A sectional meet this Friday at Nottingham.
