It was quite an opening Thursday of the area high school girls swimming season, with two local SCAC Metro divisions immediately confronting each other and the other facing the defending league and Section III champions.
Cicero-North Syracuse hosted Baldwinsville at the Le Moyne College pool the Northstars have long called home, and though the Bees claimed most of the individual races, superior depth helped C-NS take the overall meet 96-72.
The Northstars were first in all three relays, and had quite a diving competition, too, as Madeline Thorne picked up 227.60 points to fend off teammate Kaitlyn Carroll, who had 204.50 points.
Kate Gucciardi, Brittany Wood, Alayna Harbaugh and Bryn Myers were first in the 200-yard medley relay in one minute, 59.68 seconds, this before Grace Devinney joined Myers, Wood and Harbaugh to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:51.31.
On her own, Wood had the quickest time of 1:19.73 in the 100 breaststroke ahead of Cassidy Svoboda (1:23.25), just as Myers prevailed in the 50 freestyle in 26.12 seconds.
Jeanne Vinette won the 500 freestyle in 6:07.85 over Devinney (6:14.10) and Ryleigh Lenning in a 1-2-3 sweep. Vinette, Devinney, Gucciardi and Alexa Kulakowski swam the 400 freestyle relay in 4:15.07.
As for B’ville, Clare Burke won two races, going 2:13.60 to hold off Devinney (2:15.54) in the 200 freestyle while pulling away to win the 100 butterfly in 1:07.81.
Kali Sacco also won twice, edging Myers, 59.01 seconds to 59.10, in the 100 freestyle and claiming the 200 individual medley in 2:27.33. Ashley Konz, second in the 50 freestyle to Myers, would win the 100 backstroke in 1:03.49 to Gucciardi’s 1:04.51.
As that went on, Liverpool began a full season where it would not swim at home, with home meets moved to Fulton because of the school’s ongoing construction projects.
But the Warriors opened at Cazenovia College last Thursday against Fayetteville-Manlius, who again relied on its deep lineup to build a margin so big that it clinched the meet with five races left.
Liverpool lost, 92-86, but still had plenty of highlights, whether it was Dominique DeRuijter blazing to first place in the 100 backstroke in 1:07.29 or having its 200 freestyle relay team of Jessica Testone, Chloe Brown, Kaitlyn Thompson and Delaney Gellert going 1:51.95 in the 200 freestyle relay.
Testone was second in the 50 freestyle in 26.80 seconds, with Thompson second in the 100 freestyle in 59.22 seconds. Calli Rushia finished second in the 100 butterfly in 1:10.64. Gellert swam the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.91 as F-M’s Lindsay Mathews won twice, in the 200 IM and 500 freestyle, to lead her side.
