On consecutive nights, the girls swim teams from Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool both managed to find success.
When it was the Northstars’ turn, it traveled to Skaneateles last Thursday night, where a series of close races, plus the relays, fell in C-NS’s favor and produced a 96-82 victory over the Lakers.
A template for how the meet would go was authored in the opening 200-yard medley relay. The Northstars’ quartet of Kate Gucciardi, Brittany Wood, Alayna Harbaugh and Bryn Myers went one minute, 59.43 seconds to edge Skaneateles (1:59.42) by a small margin.
It continued in the 200 freestyle, Grace Devinney winning in 2:14 flat over the 2:14.53 from the Lakers’ Caitlin Comer, and in the 100 freestyle with Harbaugh going 59.64 to the 1:00.39 from Skaneateles’ Elizabeth Springer.
Gucciardi added one more tight victory in the 100 backstroke by winning in 1:04.32 to the 1:04.55 from the Lakers’ Lily Buchholz.
By contrast, Jeanne Vinette pulled away to win the 500 freestyle in 6:00.16, while in the 200 freestyle relay team of Myers, Harbaugh, Wood and Devinney went 1:48.51, easily ahead of the Lakers’ 1:51.70.
C-NS went 1-2 in diving, Madeline Thorne accumulating 239.90 points as Kaitlyn Carroll was second with 217.50 points.
Elsewhere, Gucciardi finished second in the 100 butterfly in 1:07.32 to the 1:06.34 from Skaneateles’ Grace King. Harbaugh got second in the 50 freestyle in 26.33 seconds to the 26.18 from Buchholz, and Wood was second in the 200 individual medley in 2:30.80 to the 2:30.09 from the Lakers’ Lili Winkelman.
Liverpool took its turn a day later, facing Syracuse City at Nottingham High School, and had little trouble in this meet, the Warriors pulling away to win by a 104-74 margin.
Seven different individuals won events for Liverpool, starting with Kaitlyn Thompson, who took the 200 freestyle in 2:11.07 before Delaney Gellert swam the 200 IM in 2:23.22 and Nicole Testone won the 50 freestyle in 27.29 seconds.
Sophia Recuparo, with 206.08 points, led a 1-2-3 Warriors diving sweep with Macy Moore (176.10) and Aija McIntyre (152.80). Then Emerson Gellert swam the 100 butterfly in 1:12.38 before Sophia Russo took the 100 freestyle in 1:00.93 and Kaitlyn Thompson won the 500 freestyle in 6:01.48.
At the start of the meet, Testone, Russo, Megan Winn and Calli Rushia swam the 200 medley relay in 2:04.66 for another Liverpool title, with Testone, Gellert, Samantha Walker and Domenique DeRuijter taking the 200 freestyle relay in 1:51.85. In the 400 freestyle relay, Gellert, DeRuijter, Thompson and Russo finished in 4:09.27.
Liverpool improved to 1-1 with that effort and meets West Genesee Tuesday at the Fulton pool it will call home this fall. That same night, C-NS faces Christian Brothers Academy at the Le Moyne College facility they both use, before the Northstars take on Oswego on Thursday.
