Amelia Hesler’s pair of titles provided a big highlight for the Jamesville-DeWitt girls swim team as the Red Rams, along with Christian Brothers Academy, took part in last Saturday’s Onondaga High School League championships at Mexico.
Hesler would break the two-minute mark in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in one minute, 59.02 seconds to beat her teammate, Alexis Phillips, who was second in 2:05.52. Later in the meet, Hesler would dominate the 500 freestyle, her time of 5:21.53 nearly 11 seconds ahead of Skaneateles’ Leah King (5:32.44).
Those were J-D’s lone victories at the meet. Phillips got to third place in the 100 freestyle in 58.10 seconds, while Marissa Potamianos finished third in the 100 butterfly in 1:05.26 and Emma Galletta went 26.51 seconds to finish third in the 50 freestyle.
In that same race, the 50 freestyle, CBA’s Tessa Queri nearly won, going 26.10 seconds to get second place as Auburn’s Kennedy Wilson won in exactly 26 seconds. Already, Queri, paired up with Lauren Kelly, Julia Torell and Darien Tompkins, had finished second (1:59.22) to Skaneateles (a school-record 1:57.42) in the 200 medley relay.
Twice, Torell would get second-place finishes, going 1:03.66 in the 100 butterfly to lag behind Oswego’s Caitlin Gorton (57.36 seconds) and then, in the 100 backstroke, finishing in 1:06.17, again with Gorton (1:00.31) on top. Kelly was third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:17.82.
A day earlier, they held the OHSL diving championships at J-D Middle School, but it was a CBA diver, Sam Lanzafame, who would power her way to the top. With a total of 424.6 points, Lanzafame dominated the event, leaving Oswego’s Laura Bonheimer (351.8 points) far back in second place.
Then J-D divers claimed four of the next five spots. Megan Alkins, with 335.1 points, edged out Katie White (333.45 points) for third place, while Allin Lieber-Bendix m ade it to sixth place with 329.85 points behind Oswego’s Libby Rockey (331.4 points) as Lauren Saletsky, with 320.5 points, got seventh place.
