It hasn’t taken long for the Skaneateles girls swim team to rise to the top of the Onondaga High School League standings and post victories against foes it might not have come close to beating in years past.
The Lakers’ veteran core of swimmers was again at the forefront in last Tuesday’s meet at Oswego, where the battle went down to the final race and Skaneateles won it, edging past the Buccaneers 94-92 while it also defeated Syracuse City 131-54.
Following a full evening of races, it came down to the last event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Lakers’ quartet of Lily Buchholz, Leah King, Rachel Teixeira and Grace King proved superb, finishing in three minutes, 56.54 seconds and pulling away from Oswego (4:06.88) to earn the first-place points.
Prior to that, Teixeira had won a pair of individual races, going 2:08.82 to take the 200 freestyle with Grace Femano (2:12.61) in second place. Then, in the 500 freestyle, Teixeira finished in 5:44.20 to beat the field by more than 20 seconds.
Buchholz won a close 50 freestyle, edging Oswego’s Margo McBrearty, 27.24 seconds to 27.67, with Leah King managing to go 1:04.11 in the 100 butterfly to prevail, again, over McBrearty (1:06.73) in the runner-up spot.
More crucial points for the Lakers came from 1-2 finishes in the 100 backstroke, where Femano won in 1:05.93 over Buchholz (1:08.02), and the 100 breaststroke, where Ashley Drotar needed 1:21.61 to hold off Ava Prochna (1:23.29) for the top spot.
King was second in the 200 individual medley and Rose Keady took second place in the 100 freestyle as Gabriella Capozzzae earned 171.1 points on the diving board, with Kyra Cottrill earning 151.5 points.
But Keady had already helped Teixeira, Buchholz and Leah King win the 200 medley relay in 2:01.74. The Lakers were second (1:55.17) to the Bucs (1:48.65) in the 200 freestyle relay as Keady, Drotar, Maddie Bohrer and Taylor Hill took part.
Competing on Saturday at the Watertown Invitational, Skaneateles finished second in an eight-team field with 227 points. Only Glens Falls, with 256 points, fared better.
In a close opening 200 medley relay, Buchholz, Keady, Drotar and Grace King edged host Watertown, 2:02.23 to 2:02.35. Then, to close out the meet, Skaneateles won the 400 freestyle relay as Teixeira, Buchholz, Keady and Leah King pulled away to win in 4:04.54, with no one else within nine seconds of them.
Buchholz. Who was second in the 200 freestyle in 2:09.67, would win the 100 freestyle in 58.65 seconds, with Keady third (1:00.61) as Leah King went 26.44 seconds for first place in the 50 freestyle.
Keady got to second place in the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.39 and Femano finishing second in the 100 backstroke in 1:07.06, just behind Mexico’s Reatha Van Holtz (1:06.76). Teixeira was second in the 200 IM in a time of 2:29.60 and helped Drotar and the King sisters finish second (1:47.59) to Watertown (1:46.01) in the 200 freestyle relay.
Skaneateles, with a 5-0 record, now prepares for Tuesday’s clash with West Genesee at the Community Center, followed by a trip to the Le Moyne College pool to face CBA two nights later.
