ONONDAGA COUNTY – It’s only appropriate that the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse girls swim teams would close the regular season against one another Tuesday night, fighting for positions atop the SCAC Metro division.
The Warriors went into the meet with a 7-1 record following last Thursday night’s meet with Christian Brothers Academy where, on Senior Night, it produced a 104-80 victory over the Brothers.
Kaitlyn Thompson led the way, starting with a 50-yard freestyle where she posted 25.92 seconds ahead of Kerry Hunter’s 27.79, and later taking the 100 backstroke in 1:04.69 to the 1:07.10 from CBA’s Anna Fuller.
Sarah Colwell also won twice, going 2:07.98 to top the Brothers’ Zoe Thayer (2:10.50) in the 200 freestyle and, in the 500 freestyle, prevailing in 5:42.28.
Colwell and Thompson paired with Brianna Kuznia and Emerson Gellert to prevail in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:49.20, with that same quartet closing out the meet with a 4:04.17 in the 400 freestyle relay.
On their own, Kuznia and Gellert also claimed races. In 58.45 seconds, Kuznia beat CBA’s Claire Krueger (1:00.40) in the 100 freestyle as Gellert would edge Jenna Filhan, 1:06.64 to 1:08.02, in the 100 butterfly.
Also, in the diving competition, Sofia Valente earned 188.65 points, just ahead of the 183.20 from the Brothers’ Sofia Kassab as Brianna Patton (169.90) finished third.
Exactly one week before it faced Liverpool, C-NS improved to 6-3 on the season by recording a 95-82 victory over Syracuse City at the Nottingham High School facility both called home.
Kate Gucciardi swam the 500 freestyle in 5:57.20, wining there and then posting the fastest 100 breaststroke time of 1:21.8
Kaitlyn Carroll, with 277.60 points, went 1-2 in diving with Sophia Sugrue (224.00) as Carroll also took second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:26.24, beating Juila Kulakowski’s 1:27.82.
Ella Lawrence swam the 50 freestyle in 29.26 seconds to hold off Syracuse’s Matilda Kerney (29.63) after Molly Gucciardi went 2:22.38 to win the 200 freestyle.
Rose Coleman took first in the 100 butterfly in 1:20.19 before Cassidy Payrot won the 100 freestyle in 1:06.66. Katelyn Stewart finished first in the 100 backstroke in 1:18.45.
Carroll was coming off a victory in the Oct. 15 Salt City Diving Invitational. Earning 457.90 points, Carroll pulled away from the 402.40 by the second-place finisher, Jamesville-DeWitt’s Kayla McQuaid.
Sophia Sugrue finished fifth, with 346.70 points. Among Liverpool’s divers, Valente got ninth place with 299.25 points as June Piorkowski was 14th with 283.75 and Brianna Patton (265.20) was 19th.
Many of these same divers returned to Nottingham last Saturday for the Burgos Diving Invitational where, once again, Carroll was victorious.
Improving her total to 471.40 points, Carroll was well clear of McQuaid’s second-place 427.85 points. Sugrue secured third place with 383.35 points, while Piorkowski finished fourth with 334.25 points and Valente (329.30) was fifth.
