Baldwinsville girls swimming star Noelle Staso did much more than hold up against the tough competition during Friday night’s Section III Class A championship meet at Nottingham High School.
By prevailing in a close, exciting 100-yard breaststroke and finishing second in the 50-yard freestyle in quick enough times, Staso earned an invitation to go to Ithaca College on Nov. 18-19 and swim in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
First came the 50 freestyle, where Staso would, in a time of 24.63 seconds, get just under the state qualifying standard. She was also runner-up to Oswego’s Caitlin Gorton, who won in 23.93 seconds.
No one got in front of Staso, though, in the 100 breaststroke. Pursued closely by Liverpool’s Ali Testone, Staso would finish in 1:07.78, just 0.39 seconds clear of Testone’s 1:08.17, but enough to advance to the state meet in that race, too.
As a team, B’ville finished seventh out of 10 sides with 187 points. Fayetteville-Manlius, the regular-season CNY Counties League champions, prevailed with 420 points as Cicero-North Syracuse (351 points) edged out Liverpool (338.5 points) for second place.
The Bees’ other top individual finish came in the 100 backstroke, where Erin Mordaunt got sixth place in 1:06.35. Gorton won that race, too, ultimately sharing Most Outstanding Swimmer honors with Liverpool’s Sydnie Sovinsky, who was victorious in the 50 and 500 freestyle.
In Sunday’s overall sectional meet at Nottingham, Staso again won the 100 breaststroke, improving her time by nearly a full second to 1:07.04 to pull away from Testone (1:08.73) and the field.
This followed the 50 freestyle, where in 24.84 seconds Staso nearly caught Auburn’s Kennedy Wilson (24.82 seconds) and they both trailed Sovinsky, who won in 23.92 seconds.
