ONONDAGA COUNTY – It only took one meet, and a series of quick times, for the Fayetteville-Manlius girls swim team to remind everyone in the Salt City Athletic Conference that it remains the standard.
The Hornets began its 2021 season on Sept. 2 at Liverpool, where Emma Luttrell, Elise Wratney and Georgia Langan both won two races and F-M easily put away the Warriors in a 95-82 decision.
All that Luttrell did was break the two-minute mark in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in one minute, 59.01 seconds, to go with her 58.74 earned in the 100 butterfly that, in the first race of the season, beat the state qualifying standard by more than a second.
Wratney proved her worth in the longest races, swimming the 500 freestyle in 5:48.53 to edge Kate Millson’s 5:53.64 after she won the 200 individual medley in 2:25.81 to Cecilia Cao’s 2:30.60.
Langan swept the sprints, edging Morgan Kingsley, 25.10 seconds to 25.48, in the 50 freestyle while also claiming the 100 freestyle in 56.41. Kingsley would later post the quickest 100 breaststroke time of 1:09.95.
Hali Seidberg, second in the 100 butterfly, would beat all swimmers in the 100 backstroke in 1:05.16 as she paired with Kingsley, Cao and Grace Reyna to go 1:59.10 in the 200 medley relay.
In the 200 freestyle relay, Luttrell, Langan, Kingsley and Reyna tore to first place in 1:44.28, this before Wratney joined Luttrell, Langan and Reyna to swim the 400 freestyle relay in 3:55.39.
As F-M waited two weeks for its next meet, the area’s other two teams, Jamesville-DeWitt and Christian Brothers Academy, would open against each other on Thursday night.
And it was the Red Rams prevailing 94-86 over the Brothers, quickly getting the jump when the quartet of Claire Huyck, Gwen Lister, Josie Coyne and Bianca Wales won the 200 medley relay in 2:04.16 to CBA’s 2:06.63.
Individually, Lister claimed the 200 IM in 2:25.02 before Huyck got the victory in the 100 butterfly in 1:00.78 to the 1:01.86 from the Brothers’ Claire Krueger. Coyne, in 6:15.32, edged teammate Kathryn Donaghue (6:16.34) in the 500 freestyle.
Other wins came from Lucy Heflin in the 200 freestyle (2:15.56), Olivia Ogata in the 100 butterfly 1:09.49) and Abby McGuire, whose 199.60 points beat out Grace Evans (180.15) in diving.
Coyne, Wales, Heflin and Gwen Lister were first in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:53.59 as Margaret Lister had the quickest 100 breaststroke time of 1:19.70, just ahead of Krueger’s 1:19.94.
CBA did get two race wins from Ella Zaryski, who swam the 50 freestyle in 26.12 seconds and then claimed a tight 100 backstroke in 1:05.93, edging Huyck’s 1:06.01.
