ONONDAGA COUNTY – It took the combination of two programs, populated with at least one proven superstar, to knock the Skaneateles girls swim team off the top of the Onondaga High School League.
The Lakers, by themselves, were just fine in last Tuesday’s three-team meet against Baldwinsville, prevailing 123-59 over the Bees, but against a merged Oswego/Mexico it could not quite complete the sweep, falling by a score of 95-91.
This particular meet brought together two of the top individuals in Section III – Mexico’s Alexa von Holtz and B’ville’s Eva Smith, and both would stand out.
A top 10 finisher last fall in the state 50-yard freestyle, von Holtz went 57.60 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly here and added a 200 individual medley victory in 2:08.55, easily qualifying for this year’s state meet in both events.
Smith did the same in her specialty, the 100 backstroke, going 59.16 seconds to set a pool record and beat the state qualifying standard by more than a second while nearly doing the same in the 200 freestyle, finishing in 1:57.65.
Skaneateles saw Alice Spaulding go 1:00.05 in the 100 butterfly and 2:18.93 in the 200 individual medley, with Elizabeth Springer swimming the 50 freestyle in 25.81 seconds and the 100 freestyle in 57.98.
Arianna Matthews added a 200 freestyle time of 2:05.78 and 500 freestyle clocking of 5:46.36 as she, along with Springer, Sophia Soprano and Caitlin Comer, went 1:52.45 in the 200 freestyle relay. Comer swam the 100 breaststroke in 1:17.38 and Kyla Palmer went 1:15.25 in the 100 breaststroke. Arianna Cirincione went 156.20 points in diving.
West Genesee swam against Liverpool last Tuesday night, taking a 98-83 defeat to the Warriors.
Early individual wins were attained by Allison Putnam and Lily Mauro, with Putnam going 2:08.27 in the 200 freestyle and Mauro beating the field in the diving competition with 228.65 points.
Other Wildcats had runner-up finishes, including Angie Gittschau in the 200 IM (2:35.42), Maddie Owczarzak in the 50 freestyle (27.50 seconds), Putman in the 500 freestyle in 5:51 flat and Analiese Straub in the 100 backstroke in 1:16.71.
Metting Syracuse City on Friday night, WG would get its first victory of the season, prevailing 94-77 over a side that includes some swimmers from Westhill.
Allison Shortslef prevailed twice for the Wildcats, going 2:50.24 in the 200 IM and 6:25.45 in the 500 freestyle as Mauro finished with 225.95 points in diving.
Putnam swam the 100 backstroke in 1:10.06, with Owczarzak going 28.38 seconds in the 50 freestyle and Lena Kent taking the 100 freestyle in 1:08.34. Mackenzie Dunham went 1:25.03 for the fastest time in the 100 breaststroke.
