ONONDAGA COUNTY –
Unlike seasons past, the Section III girls swimming championships was a virtual event, with teams competing at their home pools and submitting their times to be compared against others in their own class.
Thus, Skaneateles easily emerged as the Class C sectional champions, picking up 615 points to top a four-team field as Holland Patent finished second with 381 points.
When the Lakers swam on April 20 in its sectional qualifier, Hana Spaulding not only topped the 100-yard freestyle, but her time of 51.51 seconds was the best in New York State this season.
Spaulding also was victorious in the 50 freestyle, finishing in 23.98 seconds, fourth-best in the state, and with Grace King, Elizabeth Springer and Ashley Drotar posted the fifth-best 200 freestyle relay time in the state with 1:40.18.
Eighth-grader Ariana Matthews was the sectional champion in the 200 indivdiual medley, posting 2:20.36 in a 1-2-3 Lakers effort with Lili Winkelman (2:24.93) and Amelia Musso (2:40.88), and Matthews went on to take the 500 freestyle in 5:31.38, with Olivia Springer third, Liliana Arias fourth and Caity Vernak fifth.
Among Class C sectional swi5mmers, King and Springer went 1-2 in the 200 freestyle, King prevailing in 2:06.97 and Springer going 2:10.07. Also, King took second in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.48 as Marcella Buchholz was fourth.
Winkelman earned a victory in the 100 breaststroke, her time of 1:14.65 ahead of Comer’s second-place 1:17.48 as Sophia Soprano finished fourth. Springer got second place in the 100 freestyle in 57.02 seconds, with Caitlin Comer (58.95) third.
Drotar and Olivia Springer were second and third, respectively, in the 50 freestyle, but Drotar went to the top in the 100 butterfly, her 1:04.48 beating out Musso’s 1:06.61 as Emma Murphy was fifth.
Matthews, paired with Musso, Winkelman and Comer, won the 200 medley relay in 1:56.44. Carlee Pitman took second place in diving with 201.45 points, while Lexi Cottrill was third with 191.65 points.
In the Class A virtual sectional meet, West Genesee finished sixth out of 10 teams with 158 points as Fayetteville-Manlius won with 505 points.
Leading the Wildcats, Allison Putnam earned fourth place in the 500 freestyle in 5:36.57 and was fifth in the 200 freestyle in 2:05.18.Anna Ivery had a fifth-place clocking of 25.47 seconds in the 50 freestyle, also going seventh in the 100 butterfly in 1:05.32.
Ivery, Putnam, Adriana Gill and Angie Gittschau pushed the Wildcats to sixth in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:51.67, with Ivery, Putnam, Gill and Mary Lyons sixth in the 400 freestyle relay in 4:06.39.
Lyons, Allie Straub, Camille Bohli and Katie Kuppinger were eighth in the 200 medley relay as Kelsie Bottari took eighth place in diving, with Julia Turton 12th and Abbey Annable 14th.
