So much was at stake when the girls swim teams from Jamesville-DeWitt and Christian Brothers Academy clashed last Tuesday night, and the contest more than lived up to the occasion.
CBA won a majority of the individual events, but J-D made up ground with second and third-place finishes, and claimed two of the three relays, including the last one, which finally made the difference as J-D edged the Brothers 94-92.
The early edge went to the Rams because of a 1-2 sweep in the 200-yard freestyle, with Alexis Phillips prevailing in two minutes, 6.59 seconds and Marissa Potamianos got second place in 2:08.69, plus a victory by Amelia Hesler in the 200 individual medley in 2:21.73.
Earlier, in the 200 medley relay, the Brothers’ quartet of Julia Torell, Tessa Queri, Lauren Kelly and Darien Tompkins roared to victory in 1:58.44 to J-D’s 2:06.38. Then Torell claimed two individual races, going 1:01.70 in the 100 butterfly and 1:07.09 to finish first in the 100 backstroke.
Queri pulled away to win the 50 freestyle in 25.77 seconds over J-D’s Emma Galletta (26.71 seconds), but finished second in the 100 freestyle in 58.28 seconds behind Hesler, whose time of 56.67 seconds was her second title of the meet. Then Phillips won a second race, pulling away to take the 500 freestyle in 5:41.90.
Kelly went 1:14.87 in the 100 breaststroke as she and Katelyn Wendt (1:19.70) went 1-2 for CBA, while Sam Lanzafame earned a victory in diving with 235.3 points, leaving J-D’s Megan Alkins second with 199.5 points.
Through all this, J-D kept gaining points by taking the second and third spots, including the 50 freestyle, where Emma Galletta was runner-up in 26.71 seconds, and the 100 butterfly, where Potamianos went 1:05.74 for another second-place finish.
Also, Sawyer Parker was second in the 100 backstroke (1:10.67) after a fourth-place finish in the 100 freestyle, with Jordan Archer getting to third place in the 100 breaststroke in 1:23.09.
Still, J-D had to win both of the last two relays. Hesler, Galletta, Potamianos and Phillips went 1:46.59 to hold off CBA (1:48.08) in the 200 freestyle relay, and in the closing 400 freestyle relay, that same quartet would clinch the Red Rams’ victory with a time of 3:51.51, J-D’s best of the season.
Just two days later, CBA went to its home pool at Le Moyne College and took on Skaneteles, who had just knocked off West Genesee. By getting first-place finishes in seven consecutive events, the Brothers were able to turn back the Lakers 95-86.
It started with Queri, Torell, Kelly and Tompkins roaring to a time of 1:58.33 in the 200 medley relay. Then Queri and Torell would win two races apiece, with Queri going 25.69 seconds to dominate the 50 freestyle and claiming the 100 freestyle in 58.34 seconds.
Meanwhile, Torell pulled away in the 100 butterfly in 1:02.10 before taking the 500 freestyle in 5:49.68. Tompkins, who was second in the 200 IM, rebounded to win the 100 backstroke by four-hundredths of a second over Skaneateles’ Lily Buchholz, 1:07.31 to Buchholz’s 1:07.35.
Lanzafame earned 205.05 points on the diving board to top the Lakers’ Gabriella Capozza (195.25 points), while Queri returned to help Tompkins, Kelly and Katelyn Wendt win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:47.53.
Kelly, in 2:10.20, finished three-hundredths of a second behind Buchholz (2:10.17) in the 200 freestyle, and also contended in the 100 breaststroke, going 1:16.42 to get second place behind the Lakers’ Rose Keady (1:15.12).
Fayetteville-Manlius returned to Cazenovia College’s pool on Thursday and, with a trio of 1-2-3 finishes in key events, earned enough points to pull away and defeat the Wildcats 101-80.
It started on the diving board, where Erin Wind won with 239.4 points, just ahead of Riley Miller (237.8 points) and Francesca Femia (219.6 points). And it continued in the 100 freestyle, where the Hornets saw Abbey Harris prevail in 58.48 seconds as Amelia Krause (59.68 seconds) and Hannah McMichel (1:00.44) followed.
Christina Burnam offered the clincher in the 100 backstroke, going 1:09.15 to top Mairead Egan (1:11.06) by nearly two seconds, while Saya Hrosar was third in 1:12.90.
Much earlier in the meet, Egan had helped Grace Bang, Addie Antshel and Cara Campell win the 200 medley relay in 2:05.26, with F-M also second as Burnam helped that quartet post 2:07.92.
Then Skyler Haun, in 26.69 seconds, and Nicole Menz (27.79 seconds) went 1-2 in the 50 freestyle as Campell, McMichel, Harris and Hannah Kellog roared to a time of 1:46.89 in the 200 freestyle relay, while Bang, Amelia Krouse, Mary Lux and Annie Christopher were second in 1:50.54.
