While having an 8-3 overall record was nice, nothing the Skaneateles girls swim team has done this fall could compare with knocking off its large-school neighbors to the east.
That’s what the Lakers accomplished Tuesday night at the Community Center YMCA, defeating West Genesee 99-85, only the second time in varsity program history that Skaneateles had bettered the Wildcats head-to-head.
Each of the first four races went in the Lakers’ favor, starting with the 200-yard medley relay, where Lily Buchholz, Lili Winkelman, Grace King and Elizabeth Springer went 2:00.16 to beat WG’s second-place 2:03.86.
Right after, Buchholz beat the field in the 200 freestyle, prevailing in 2:03.52, with King promptly taking the 200 individual medley in 2:30.76 and Springer, in 25.93 seconds, topping WG’s Hannah Murdock (26.23) and Anna Ivery (26.43) in the 50 freestyle.
A close diving competition saw Julia Turton put the Wildcats in the win column with 167.80 points to the 163.05 from Skaneateles’ Lexis Cottrill, but the Lakers promptly started winning again.
King, in 1:06.24, took the 100 butterfly over Amelia Musso (1:09.59), with Springer completing a sprint sweep by going 56.91 seconds as part of a 1-2 finish with Caitlin Comer, who went 59.13 seconds.
Ultimately, it was Buchholz earning the clinching team points when she tore to first place in the 100 backstroke in 1:04.77, quickly followed by Winkelman’s first-place time of 1:14.65 in the 100 breaststroke as Comer (1:17.63) was third. King, Springer, Comer and Buchholz swam the 400 freestyle relay in 4:01.17.
WG, for its part, had Allison Putnam win the 500 freestyle in 5:47.16 to Winkelman’s 5:58.39, followed by Murdock, Ivery, Adriana Gill and Victoria Senus winning the 200 freestyle relay in 1:48.76 to the Lakers’ 1:54.74 from Cottrill, Winkelman, Comer and Musso.
Putnam was second in the 200 freestyle in 2:10.36, with Maggie Smith second in the 200 IM in 2:37.51 and also second (1:13.79) in the 100 backstroke. Devon Burnside was second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:16.97.
Murdock was third in the 100 freestyle and Taylor McFadden third in the 100 butterfly, with Kelsie Bottari third in diving.
Skaneateles takes part in the OHSL championships this week at Mexico, while WG ventured to Nottingham for last Saturday’s Salt City Athletic Conference championships before it meets Fayetteville-Manlius Thursday at Cazenovia College.
At its league meet, WG rose to fifth in the 200 freestyle relay as Senus, Gill, Smith and Ivery posted a time of 1:48.67. the wildcats was also ninth in the 200 medley relay in 2:07.25
Murdock, in 26.74 seconds, beat out Ivery (26.90) and Senus (27.36) for seventh place in the 50 freestyle. McFadden was eighth in the 500 freestyle in 6:07.92 and got to ninth place in the 200 freestyle in 2:13.21.
Devon Burnside had a strong showing in the 100 breaststroke, getting to sixth place in 1:17.42, while Allison Putnam was seventh in the 100 backstroke in 1:07.79.
