As the host side for the Section III Class C girls swimming championships on Friday night, Skaneateles had the advantage of familiarity with the pool where it was taking part in its most important meet of the season.
And no one enjoyed this more than Lakers sophomore Lily Buchholz, who broke two school records and, in the process, earned a spot in the Nov. 17-18 state championship meet at Ithaca College.
This superb effort began for Buchholz in the 100-yard freestyle, where she had gone 56.66 seconds during the season. Here, Buchholz tore to a time of 53.86 seconds, breaking the school and Skaneateles pool records at the same time and beating the state qualifying standard by six-tenths of a second.
Even more was done in the 100 backstroke, where Buchholz entered the meet with a best time of 1:02.50. Fired up by the home crowd, Buchholz improved to 1:00.96, more than a half-second under the state qualifying standard of 1:00.42 and another school record, too.
In between those races, Buchholz paired with freshman Lexis Cottrill, eighth-grader Rory Comer and seventh-grader Alice Spaulding to help the Lakers win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:47.67, ahead of runner-up Thousand Islands (1:49.63) and the field.
Overall, Skaneateles earned 301 points, solidly in second place behind Christian Brothers Academy, who puilled away to the team title with 500 points. Lowville was third with 229 points.
Spaulding’s superb season culminated with a second-place finish in the 200 individual medley in 2:25.70, beating her previous best time of the season by more than seven seconds.
Buchholz, Ava Prochna, Grace King and Gabriella Capozza were second (2:00.19) to CBA (1:52.08) in the 200 medley relay, this before King finished third in the 500 freestyle in 5:54.62. In the 400 freestyle relay, King, Spaulding, Comer and Cappozza were fifth in 4:10.58.
King also got fifth place in the 100 butterfly in 1:06.98. Prochna was fifth (1:16.09) and Comer sixth (1:17.07) in the 100 breaststroke as Comer added a sixth-place finish in the 200 freestyle in 2:17.24. Capozza and Cottrill were 11th and 12th, respectively, in the 50 freestyle.
Back on Thursday, the Lakers had three girls – Capozza, Kyra Cottrill and Carlee Pitman – take part in the sectional diving championships.
Among Class C divers, Capozza finished fifth with 327.50 points as Lowville’s Audrey Clements (391.45 points) took top spot in the class. Cottrill had 254.70 points, with Pitman gaining 252.45 points. Capozza went on to a 15th-place finish in the state qualifier with 318.60 points as
