Among the work done at West Genesee High School over the last year was a revamped swimming pool, which made its competitive debut for the girls swimming Wildcats just as school got underway.
In a tough assignment, the Wildcats drew Jamesville-DeWitt, the reigning Onondaga High School League champions, who proceeded to prevail by a 100-83 margin.
Twice, Hannah Jasinski finished second in races, going two minutes, 28.89 seconds in the 200 individual medley behind J-D’s Alexis Phillips (2:25.47) and also getting a time of 1:07.34 in the 100 butterfly, where the Red Rams’ Marissa Potamianos prevailed in 1:04.39.
Mikki Riley, who was third in the 100 butterfly (1:07.96) just behind Jasinski, also swam on WG’s 200 freestyle relay team that finished second (1:52.70) to J-D’s 1:48.60. Maddie Zapisek took second place in the 200 freestyle in 2:05.40. In the 500 freestyle, Zapisek had a second-place time of 5:49.22, edging Gabby Shuron (5:49.59) for that position.
Elsewhere, Jenna Mellen needed 28.13 seconds to land in fourth place in the 50 freestyle, while Cassie Wetmore was second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:29 flat. Jasinski and Zapisek joined Shuron and Maggie Linton as WG took the closing 400 freestyle relay in 4:05.55.
Two days later, WG faced Auburn, and managed to turn things around as Zapisek’s pair of wins, plus a timely late relay effort, allowed the Wildcats to earn a 91-79 victory over the Maroons.
Zapisek was victorious in the 200 freestyle, edging Auburn’s Hannah Foster, 2:06.84 to Foster’s 2:07.53. It was nearly as close in the longer 500 freestyle, but again Zapisek came out on top, finishing in 5:43.81 as Foster (5:45.42) again settled for the runner-up position.
Jasinski, in 2:32.38, edged out Riley (2:34.14) as WG went 1-2 in the 200 IM. In the 100 backstroke, Linton prevailed in 1:15.76 and Lindsay Dantuono (1:20.55) finished second as Alissa Drake was second (1;26.78) and Maggie Smith was third (1:26.84) in the 100 breaststroke.
Having finished second in the other two relays, the Wildcats needed to win the 400 freestyle relay to clinch the meet – and got it. Jasinski, Riley, Shuron and Zapisek finished in 3:59.76, holding off Auburn (4:00.10) by less than half a second.
So the Wildcats would take a 1-1 record into a week of practice and rest before resuming Sept. 20 at Skaneateles, part of a busy stretch of three meets in four days that also includes encounters with Fayetteville-Manlius and Syracuse City.
