DEWITT – When two undefeated girls swim teams got together Tuesday night, the competition was keen from the first race to the last.
And it wasn’t until the latter stages of the meet that Fayetteville-Manlius was able to get clear of host Jamesville-DeWitt as the Hornets prevailed, 98-88, over the Red Rams.
A key factor in F-M’s favor turned out to be that it won all three relays, starting in a tight 200 medley where Elise Wratney, Gabby Dardis, Avery Luttrell and Lillian Fowler went one minute, 59.81 seconds to edge the 2:00.49 from J-D’s quartet of Thearyn Wales, Margaret Lister, Maria Fisher and Evelyn Jones.
It was almost as close in the 200 freestyle relay. Georgia Langan joined Wratney, Fowler and Kate Millson to go 1:49.26 as the Rams had Wales, Jones, Lila Schroth and Leah Abrams post 1:50.48. Later in the meet, Dardis, Millson, Meghan Iles and Kelly Liu took the 400 freestyle relay in 4:06.23.
Wales stood out for J-D with two individual titles. In the 200 freestyle, Wales’ time of 2:06.24 was ahead of Abrams’ 2:09.32 and Wratney’s 2:09.60 as, in the 100 backstroke, Wales won in 1:04.97 as Dardis (1:07.10) finished second.
Sweeping the sprints for the Hornets, Langan, in 25.80 seconds, pulled away from Jones (27.01) and Schroth (28.08) in the 50 freestyle, then added a 100 freestyle victory in 56.60 seconds, again with Jones (58.91) in the runner-up spot.
Millson, yet another Cazenovia High School swimmer helping the F-M squad, prevailed in a tight 200 individual medley, her 2:27.56 just eight-hundredths of a second ahead of Lister’s 2:27.64.
Wratney prevailed in the 100 breaststroke, her 1:11.73 just ahead of Lister’s 1:12.83. Iles took the 100 butterfly in 1:11.62 to Eliza Smith’s 1:12.59 as Kayla McQuaid again won in diving for J-D, earning 274.45 points as Keegan Nicolette (198.25) was second.
Not far away, at Le Moyne College, Christian Brothers Academy had its own big meet against visiting Liverpool, and was able to win it, doing just enough with points to edge the Warriors 94-92.
It turned out that winning the first three races was crucial for the Brothers, starting with Anna Fuller, Madison Ceclia, Jenna Filhan and Alison Sullivan pairing up to win the 200 medley relay in 2:03.05.
Two races later, Filhan would claim the 200 IM in 2:25.79 after Zoe Thayer, in the 200 freestyle, needed to post 2:07.83 to edge the 2:09.04 from Liverpool’s Sarah Colwell, who went on to claim the 500 freestyle.
Kayla Ceclia beat the field in the 100 butterfly in 1:06.83, with Josie Lachut taking the 100 breaststroke in 1:19.11 as Liverpool was led by Kaitlyn Thompson’s wins in the 50 freestyle (26.42 seconds) and 100 backstroke (1:04.92).
Fuller got second in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.59, with Thayer, in 58.51 seconds, just behind the Warriors’ Arianna Kuznia (58.02) in the 100 freestyle. Just needing a second in the closing 400 freestyle relay, CBA achieved it when Thayer, Fuller, Madison Ceclia and Sophia Ciereck posted 4:04.51.