Even with a larger roster and plenty of individual standouts, the West Genesee girls swim team was unable to catch up to Skaneateles in last Tuesday’s meet at the Skaneateles Community Center, where it took a 97-89 defeat to the Lakers.
Early in the meet, Maddie Zapisek and Mikki Riley gave the Wildcats back-to-back wins as Zapisek swam the 200-yard freestyle in two minutes, 7.77 seconds and Riley held off Skaneateles’ Rose Keady, 2:30.91 to 2:32.34, in the 200 individual medley.
However, the Lakers won every other race, leaving WG to settle for a series of runner-up efforts that did not add up to enough points, including the 100 butterfly, where Riley was second in 1:06.40 and Hannah Jasinski (1:06.68) was third behind Skaneateles’ Leah King, who edged Riley by winning in 1:04.15.
Zapisek got involved in her own thriller with King in the 500 freestyle, going neck-and-neck as Zapisek finished in 5:41.47, but King won in 5:40.43 as Gabby Shuron took third place in 5:51.95. A close diving competition saw Kathleen Draveck get 168.8 points, but Skaneateles win it with Kyra Cottrill earning 169.7 points.
Jasinski also got second place (1:14.92) behind Keady (1:13.71) in the 100 breaststroke, with Maggie Smith second in the 100 backstroke in 1:14.80, edging out Maggie Linton (1:14.81), each of them trailing the 1:11.81 posted by Skaneateles’ Lily Buchholz.
Jenna Mellen finished second (28.34 seconds) behind the Lakers’ Ashley Drotar (27.68 seconds) in the 50 freestyle, and also was third in the 500 freestyle. In the closest relay, the Wildcats posted 1:50.48 in the 200 freestyle, one second behind Skaneateles (1:49.48) as Mellen, Riley, Zapisek and Shuron took part.
Linton, Jasinski and Mellen had helped WG to a time of 2:10.94 in the 200 medley relay, only to have Skaneateles finish in 2:00.88. Then, in the 400 freestyle relay, the Lakers recorded a winning time of 3:55.72 as Shuron, Riley, Jasinski and Zapisek went 3:58.28 for the Wildcats.
Another meet followed two nights later, with WG taking on Fayetteville-Manlius at the Cazenovia College pool. Using that as a home venue, the Hornets would hand the Wildcats its second defeat in a 48-hour span by a 101-80 margin.
F-M swept the top two spots in the 200 medley relay to gain a point advantage before Zapisek edged the Hornets’ Abbey Harris, 2:06.98 to 2:08.01, in the 200 freestyle. Jasinski followed with a win in the 200 IM in 2:27.30, with Riley (2:30.78) taking second place.
Later, in the 100 butterfly, it was Riley’s turn to prevail in 1:05.87 to Jasinski’s 1:06.42. Zapisek claimed a second victory in the 500 freestyle in 5:41.59, ahead of F-M’s Hannah Kellog (5:45.84) as Cassie Wetmore won the 100 breaststroke, edging Smith, 1:24.40 to 1:24.85.
In order to pull away, F-M needed 1-2-3 finishes in diving (where Erin Wind won with 239.4 points), 100 freestyle (where Harris prevailed in 58.48 seconds and 100 backstroke (won by Christina Burnam in 1:09.15). It also won the first two relays before Jasinski, Shuron, Zapisek and Linton went 4:04.98 in the closing 400 freestyle relay.
The losses dropped WG’s record to 2-3 as it looked ahead to more meets this week against Baldwinsville, Syracuse and Oswego.
