Two more tests awaited the West Genesee girls swim team as it looked to improve its regular-season record to 5-1, but it could only earn a split of those meets.
The first part went well, with the Wildcats hosting Oswego last Tuesday night and doing enough throughout the night to turn back the Buccaneers’ challenge and prevail 98-88.
Right away, there was a close race as WG’s quartet of Anna Ivery, Devon Burnside, Taylor McFadden and Hannah Murdock needed two minutes, 4.15 seconds to hold off Oswego (2:04.74) and take the 200-yard medley relay.
Murdock would win twice more, going 26.75 seconds to beat the Bucs’ Grace Wing (27.15) in the 50 freestyle and then claiming the 100 freestyle in 59.89 seconds.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Murdock, helped by Ivery, Victoria Senus and Adrianna Gill, pulled out the 200 freestyle relay in another close contest, the Wildcats’ 1:47.67 just eight-hundredths of a second ahead of Oswego’s 1:47.75.
McFadden, in 1:10.07, held off the Bucs’ Maya Upcraft (1:10.78) in the 100 butterfly, while Burnside earned a first-place time of 1:16.75 in the 100 breaststroke.
Kelsie Bottari (180.35 points) held off teammate Julia Turton (177.30 points) as WG went 1-2 in diving, with Maggie Smith finishing second in the 200 individual medley in 2:35.95 and second in the 100 backstroke in 1:12.64.
It figured to get tougher in Friday’s meet against Cicero-North Syracuse at Le Moyne College, and that proved the case as the Wildcats took a 99-76 defeat to the Northstars.
WG did not win a race until the 500 freestyle, which Allison Putnam claimed in 5:50.47. Later, Smith would edge C-NS’s Alexa Kulakowski, 1:09.38 to 1:09.51, in the 100 backstroke after finishing second in the 200 freestyle.
McFadden, in 1:10.63, was a close second to C-NS’s Brittany Wood (1:10.09) in the 100 butterfly as Murdock, McFadden, Gill and Hannah Delpha had a time of 1:52.80 in the 200 freestyle relay.
Back on Thursday night, Skaneateles met Syracuse City at Nottingham High School, with the Lakers able to pull away and earn a 100-75 victory to improve its overall record to 5-3.
Before they moved to individual events, Grace King, Lili Winkelman, Caitlin Comer and Elizabeth Springer started out the meet by helping Skaneateles win the 200 medley relay in 2:03.85
King would finish first in the 500 freestyle in 5:49.55 and return two races later to beat the field in the 100 backstroke in 1:10.30, while Winkelman edged teammate Amelia Musso, 28.89 seconds to 28.97, in the 50 freestyle and Comer won the 200 freestyle in 2:16.30 to Marcella Buchholz’s 2:19.53, also going 1:20.09 to edge Springer (1:21.77) in the 100 breaststroke.
Not to be left out, Lily Buchholz swam the 200 IM in 2:28.38, winning that race, and also was victorious in the 100 freestyle in 59.60 seconds. Musso won the 100 butterfly in 1:09.20.
Carlee Pitman, with 191.70 points, beat out Lexis Cottrill (166.20) as the Lakers went 1-2 in diving. Cottrill, Comer, Lily Buchholz and eighth-grader Sophia Soprano finished the 200 freestyle relay in 1:56.21.
The Lakers would be back in the pool Tuesday at Rome Free Academy as West Genesee faced two more road meets, against CBA Tuesday at Le Moyne and then Friday at Jamesville-DeWitt.
