Due to her work in the regular season and in the Section III meet in early November, Baldwinsville girls swimmer Noelle Staso made it all the way to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
They held the state meet Nov. 18-19 at Ithaca College, with Staso swimming in two different events – the 100-yard breaststroke and 50-yard freestyle, watching as numerous state records fell by the time it was over.
In the 100 breaststroke, 27 swimmers advanced to the final rounds. Staso had entered as the 24th-fastest qualifier with a time of one minute, 7.04 seconds, but could only manage 1:08.20 here and finished 31st. Long Beach’s Margaret Aroesty won, breaking her own one-minute flat state record by prevailing in 59.85 seconds, nearly two full seconds ahead of the field.
During the 50 freestyle, Staso, who swam as fast as 24.63 seconds this season, posted 24.86 seconds, which left her in 40th place, unable to reach the finals. Pelham’s Katherine Douglass won in 22,31 seconds after breaking the state record with 22.21 seconds in the qualifying round, Douglass also winning the state title and setting a new state mark in the 100 freestyle in 48.54 seconds.
Section III’s best individual finish in any event came from Oswego’s Caitlin Gorton, who got to fifth place in the 100 butterfly in 56.42 seconds as Liverpool’s Sydnie Sovinsky was ninth (56.83 seconds) after an eighht-place finish in the 200 freestyle in 1:53.40.
