Just before their head-to-head encounter at Le Moyne College early next week, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool girls swim teams had very different results from their respective CNY Counties League meets.
The Northstars moved to 2-0 on the season Wednesday by going to Baldwinsville and knocking off the Bees 57-37, while the Warriors, at home, led most of the way and won most of the races against Fayetteville-Manlius, yet still lost to the Hornets 95-91.
Right away, Liverpool had an edge on F-M thanks to the quartet of Sydnie Sovinsky, Allison Testone, Lauren Flynn and Jessica Testone, who needed two minute, 1.16 seconds to take first place in the 200-yard medley relay.
Sovinsky went from there to tearing through the 50 freestyle in 24.85 seconds, winning that race and going 53.92 seconds for the fastest Section III time of the fall in the 100 freestyle. Jaida Fox also won twice, going 2:27.99 in the 200 individual medley and 1:09.51 to edge F-M’s Addie Antshel (1:09.60) in the 100 butterfly.
A tremendous diving competition saw Liverpool’s Alyssa Vadala emerge victorious with 241.60 points, with Kelley Townley (232.75 points) holding off the Hornets’ Erin Wind (219.2 points) for second place and more valuable points.
Later on, it was Alllison Testone winning back-to-back races, going 1:05.26 in the 100 backstroke and 1:15.42 in the 100 breaststroke. Sovinsky and Fox paired with Maddie Rose and Reilly Wolf to go 1:46.83 and win the 200 freestyle relay.
Despite all this, F-M used a series of second and third-place finishes to match the points Liverpool was earning at the top, leading to a decisive 400 freestyle relay. The Warriors could not match the Hornets, whose quartet of Cara Campell, Hannah Kellogg, Abbey Harris and Hannah McMichael won in 3:54.40 for the clinching points.
It didn’t boil down to the last race at Baldwinsville, where C-NS effectively worked past the host Bees with a well-balanced roster and victories in the 200 freestyle (1:49.72) and 400 freestyle (4:04.94) relays by night’s end.
Brooke Fedi, who swam in the 400 freestyle relay with Olivia Griffin, Sarah Walter and Madeline Thorn, beat out Lauren Thorne, 1:04.81 to 1:05.40, as part of a 1-2 C-NS finish in the 100 butterfly, this after Thorne pulled away to win the 200 IM in 2:25.78, more than 11 seconds ahead of B’ville’s Kali Sacco (2:36.94). Fedi was also second in the 100 breaststroke.
Walter had raced in both relays, part of the 200 freestyle relay quartet with Thorne, Griffin and Kiersten Coates, and she swam the 200 freestyle in 2:14.21 to finish second behind teammate Grace Devinney, who won in 2:11.37 before going to the 500 freestyle and, in 5:53.40, posting the only sub-six-minute effort.
Coates was victorious in the 100 freestyle in 58.63 seconds, with Griffin getting third place in1:00.13 after she got second place in the 50 freestyle in 26.12 seconds behind the Bees’ Noelle Staso (25.46 seconds), with Coates third in 26.57 seconds. Carla Champagne (1:09.53) and Amy Bubb (1:12.44) were second and third, respectively, in the 100 backstroke.
