WEBSTER – Baldwinsville girls swimmer Eva Smith is already a record-holder in multiple events and one of the best swimmers ever produced by the Bees’ program.
Smith continued to add to that legacy during last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Webster Aquatic Center near Rochester.
Entered in two events, the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard freestyle, Smith ultimately chose to concentrate on the backstroke and, in doing so, recorded a top-10 finish.
The school record holder with a time of 56.98 seconds, Smith raced in last Friday’s opening round and finished in 57.45, which put her seventh as Hauppague-Smithtown’s Leah Treglia led the pack with 54.98.
That same day, in the 200 freestyle, Smith went 1:57.08 in qualifying, putting her 16th, but two seconds slower than her school-record 1:55.06, so she did not swim in the finals there.
Putting all her energy into the 100 backstroke state final on Saturday, Smith went 27.54 seconds in the opening 50 yards and 29.78 in the last 50 yards to finish in 57.32, not quite matching her season best.
Still, it left Smith in eighth place in the state and Federation standings as Treglia claimed both titles in 54.43 seconds, more than a second ahead of the 55.92 from Herricks’ Kailey Simons.
Overall, the only Section III swimmers with better finishes were Mexico-Oswego’s Alexa von Holtz, fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:05.17) and sixth in the 100 butterfly (57.18, and New Hartford’s Katie Lester, fifth in the 100 freestyle (52.40).
