Maddie Zapisek led the West Genesee girls swim team to the Section III Class A championships at Nottingham High School where she hoped for top results and a chance to swim further in 2017.
Zapisek entered the 200-yard freestyle with the second-best time of 2:03.67 behind Syracuse’s Orla Lacey (2:03.33). In Friday’s Class A final, Zapisek went to the top, her clocking of 1:57.83 beating the field by more than four seconds and just below the state qualifying standard of 1:57.24.
Also, Zapisek swam in the 500 freestyle, where she was the third-ranked qualifier at 5:33.50. Here, she improved her time by more than 10 seconds, to 5:23.16, putting her second behind Lacey, who won in 5:20.34 as Abrianna Gitschau was seventh in 5:38.08 and Allison Putnam (5:42.36) was ninth.
WG had a strong team showing, too, earning 304 points, which put the Wildcats in third place. Fayetteville-Manlius repeated as sectional champions with 470.5 points as Liverpool was second with 377 points.
Hannah Jasinski roared to a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle in 55.89 seconds, trailing only Auburn’s Kennedy Wilson (55.49) and F-M’s Cara Campell (55.54), with Jasinski also fifth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.54, with Haley Hagadorn (1:16.14) eighth and Devon Burnside in 11th place.
Jasinski, Zapisek, Anna Ivery and Morgan Cappon got third place in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:45.08, improving by more than three seconds from its 1:48.65 during the season. In the 400 freestyle relay, Zapisek, Jasinski, Ivery and Murdoch were third in 3:52.80.
Ivery was fourth in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.16 as Maggie Smith got sixth place in 1:07.30. In the 200 medley relay, Smith, Cappon, Hagadorn and Katie O’Brien got fifth place in 2:01.71. Smith added a ninth-place finish in the 200 individual medley in 2:28.26.
Hannah Murdoch got to sixth place in the 50 freestyle in 26.57 seconds, with Ivery ninth in 26.71 seconds. Murdoch also was ninth in the 100 freestyle in 59.02 seconds. Putnam was eighth in the 200 freestyle in 2:05.21, with Gatschau ninth in 2:06.91
In the sectional diving competition that started last Thursday, Kathleen Draveck finished eighth among Class A competitors, with 292 points. Liverpool’s Sarah LaValley was the overall champion with 404.90 points.
During the Class B sectional meet at Nottingham, Marcellus sophomore Grace Femano nearly won the 100 backstroke, her time of 1:02.84 just one-hundredth of a second behind Mexico’s Reatha Van Holtz, who won in 1:02.83.
Femano also gained sixth place in the 100 freestyle in 57.24 seconds. Emily Comer got 11th place in the 50 freestyle in 27.39 seconds and was also 11th in the 500 freestyle in 5:56.08. Allison Comer was 12th in the 500 freestyle (6:03.57) and 13th in the 200 freestyle in 2:15.88.
.Moving on to Sunday’s sectional state qualifier at Nottingham, Femano nearly won the 100 backstroke, her time of 1:02.54 trailing only Skaneateles’ Lily Buchholz, who won in 1:00.51.
As for Zapisek, she went 1:57.62 in the 200 freestyle, second to New Hartford’s Alexis Falvo (1:55.56) as Putnam finished ninth. Zapisek also got fourth place in the 500 freestyle in 5:22.70 as Jasinski was seventh in the 100 freestyle in 56.10 seconds and seventh in the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.17.
In relays, Zapisek, Ivery, Jasinski and Cappon got to fifth place in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:43.29 before Murdoch joined Jasinski, Zapisek and Ivery to help WG get sixth place (3:50.77) in the 400 freestyle relay.
