In the course of two weeks, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls swim team has claimed victories over each of its closest neighbors.
Having claimed a 94-90 classic over Christian Brothers Academy on Sept. 10 at Cazenovia College, the Hornets went to Jamesville-DeWitt Thursday night and, led by Lindsay Mathews, recorded a 95-88 victory over the Red Rams.
Mathews got her first title in the 200-yard individual medley, needing two minutes, 23.64 seconds to hold off teammate Morgan Kingsley (2:25.31) for that race.
Then, in the 500 freestyle, Mathews pulled away for an easy victory in 5:34.94 as Meghan Seidberg finished second in 5:51.96. To close out the meet, Mathews paired with Kingsley, Emma Luttrell and Hannah Kellogg to post a top time of 3:50.53.
Georgia Langan, in 26.42 seconds, beat out J-D’s Julia Antoine (26.96) in the 50 freestyle, but F-M mostly built its winning margin with second and third-place finishes in other events to go with a sweep of the relays.
Luttrell and Kellogg, helped by Kingsley and Addie Anthsel, opened the meet by going 1:57.14 to beat out J-D’s quartet of Antoine, Gwen Lister, Emily Ninestein and Sofia Bebla, who finished in 1:58.89. Later, in the 200 freestyle relay, the Hornets had Kellogg, Luttrell, Kingsley and Langan work together to go 1:45.08, well clear of the Red Rams’ time of 1:50.66.
But J-D earned plenty of individual titles, led by Hesler, who broke two minutes to win the 200 freestyle in 1:59.81 and then was victorious in the 100 butterfly, edging Luttrell, 1:00.90 to 1:00.97.
Lister also won twice, claiming the 100 freestyle in 57.79 seconds and edging Bebla, 1:11.97 to 1:12.40, in the 100 breaststroke, while Ninestein won the 100 backstroke in 1:05.86 to teammate Claire Huyck’s 1:06.95. In diving, J-D’s Abby McGuire won with 201.15 points as F-M’s Alessandra Manicone was second with 177.30 points.
Two days earlier, J-D defeated Mexico 93-74, where it showed immediate strength when Hesler, Ninestein, Lister and Bebla went 1:58.19 to win the 200 medley relay.
Hesler claimed the 50 freestyle in 25.32 seconds and was second (54.69 seconds) to the Tigers’ Alexa von Holtz (54.25) in a fast 100 freestyle.
Ninestein edged Mexico’s Reatha von Holtz, 1:07.44 to 1:08.27, in the 100 backstroke after finishing second in the 100 butterfly in 1:04.21. She also paired with Hesler, Lister and Kathryn Donaghue to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:46.93.
A series of second and third-place finishes helped J-D overcome Mexico’s individual strength, along with a 1-2-3 diving sweep as McGuire (200.85 points) held off Grace Evans (192.30), with Kyra McDevitt third.
Meanwhile, CBA was involved in a unique meet against the Cicero-North Syracuse side with which it shares Le Moyne College as a home pool. Their meet ended in a rare 92.5-92.5 tie.
It all went back to the opening 200 medley relay, where the Brothers’ top side was disqualified, giving C-NS what turned out to be its lone race victory.
Otherwise, the Northstars used a long string of second and third-place finishes to maintain its points lead. C-NS even finished second and third in the closing 400 freestyle relay to keep CBA from overtaking them.
Despite this, the Brothers’ top swimmers continued to put up great times. Kayla Newman swam the 200 freestyle in 1:57.99 and the 500 freestyle in 5:18.27 as Darien Tompkins went 1:03.02 in the 100 backstroke and 2:19.45 in the 200 IM.
Kaitlyn Bushnell swept the 50 freestyle (25.67 seconds) and 100 freestyle (56.96 seconds) as Lauren Kelly went 1:01.53 in the 100 butterfly and 1:07.75 to win the 100 breaststroke.
Making no mistakes in the other relays, CBA had Kelly, Bushnell, Ally Howard and Kathryn Nardella go 1:45.19 in the 200 freestyle relay as Tompkins, Newman, Bushnell and Sophia Silver won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:54.87.
CBA did win on Friday, though, prevailing 102-88 over Skaneateles as Newman improved to 5:10.85 in the 500 freestyle after a 200 freestyle clocking of 1:58.94.
Kelly swam the 50 freestyle in 24.47 seconds and the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.83, with Tompkins going 1:03.26 to hold off the Lakers’ Lily Buchholz (1:04.32) in the 100 backstroke after a winning 1:00.82 in the 100 butterfly. Sophia Menar won in diving with 202.80 points, just ahead of Skanetaeles’ Lexis Cottrill (198.45) as Bushnell was victorious in the 100 freestyle.
