SYRACUSE – Only finishing on top would fully satisfy the area’s three high school girls swim teams as they all ventured to Nottingham High School for this week’s Section III championships.
Favored to win an eighth consecutive team title in Class A, Fayetteville-Manlius did so on Wednesday, its total of 405 points enough to hold off a spirited challenge from Liverpool, who was second with 369 points.
Later that day, in the Class B sectional meet, Jamesville-DeWitt finished on top, earning 456 points ahead of Christian Brothers Academy’s 406 points, the Red Rams avenging a regular-season defeat to the Brothers.
Class A went first, and F-M immediately got into the win column when Gabby Dardis, Kristen Iles, Georgia Langan and Elise Wratney went one minute, 59.81 seconds to take the 200-yard medley relay.
Wratney was victorious in the 500 freestyle, going 5:27.33 to beat Oswego/Mexico’s Ciarrah Tynan (5:35.50 and then, in the 100 breaststroke, posting 1:11.37 as part of a 1-2-3 finish with Lillian Fowler (1:14.82) and Kate Millson (1:16.10).
Langan was twice second in sprints, her 25.21 seconds in the 50 freestyle trailing Baldwinsville star Eva Smith (24.83) as she swam the 100 freestyle in 55.93 to trail the 54.98 from West Genesee’s Maddie Owczarzak. Millson, yet another Cazenovia swimmer helping F-M’s cause, was third in the 200 individual medley in 2:24.88.
When the Class B sectional meet took place, J-D stepped up, top to bottom, constantly outperforming expectations and previous times to gain the points necessary for a win over CBA, even if it did not win a single race.
Thearyn Wales finished second in the 200 freestyle in 2:03.91 behind New Hartford’s Katie Lester (1:56.62), and then took third in the 100 backstroke in 1:03.71.
Margaret Lister made her way to second place (1:11.51), just behind New Hartford’s Subeen Park (1:10.88), in the 100 breaststroke as Evelyn Jones, in exactly 56 seconds, was a close runner-up in the 100 freestyle and Leah Abrams was third in the 500 freestyle in 5:33.49.
But J-D did get a victory from Kayla McQuaid in Class B diving, where she earned 430.55 points to pull away from CBA’s Sophia Osvoldik (361.75) in the second spot. The Brothers’ Myli Petrocci and the Rams has Kaia Eutale in fifth place, Zoe McCarthy seventh and Jennifer Ambrose ninth ahead of Abby Gorczynski and Madalyn Sheedy.
On CBA’s side, Ella Zaryski, in 55..93 seconds, was the one who edged Jones in the 100 freestyle to go with a third in the 200 freestyle in 2:04.19 as Anna Fuller was second in the 100 backstroke in 1:03.12 to New Hartford’s Dana Hans in 1:02.59.
Key points came in the 200 medley relay, where J-D had Wales, Lister, Jones and Maria Fisher finish in 1:58.45 to beat out CBA’s Anna Fuller, Jenna Filhan, Madison Ceclia and Alison Sullivan (1:58.92) in third place. CBA also was third in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:46.19 and third in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:52.21.
When they all returned for Friday’s sectional state qualifier, J-D had 228.5 points, CBA 218 points and F-M 213 points, but they all trailed New Hartford, who won with 260 points.
To lead F-M, Wratney won the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.50, more than a second ahead of the field, and, with Dardis, Langan and Iles, were second (1:55.30) to New Hartford (1:53.11) in the 200 medley relay as J-D was fourth in 1:58.80 and CBA (1:59.46) sixth.
Langan’s 25.17 seconds in the 50 freestyle only trailed Smith’s 24.71, and her 55.51 in the 100 freestyle was second to the 54.70 from Owczarzak. Wratney added a fourth in the 500 freestyle in 5:28.19, while Millson took eighth in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, where Fowler got seventh place.
J-D had Wales fourth (2:03.37), Abrams sixth (2:04.77) and Lister eighth (2:06.21) in the 200 freestyle. Jones added a fourth in the 100 freestyle in 56.93 seconds, while Lister took fourth (1:12.99) in the 100 breaststroke and Abrams was fifth in the 500 freestyle in 5:31.10, with Wales fifth (1:04.28) in the 100 backstroke.
CBA saw Fuller swim the 100 backstroke in 1:02.74, second to Smith’s 58.28, helping Zaryski, Fuller and Ciereck get third in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:50.31 ahead of F-M in fifth and J-D in seventh place. Zaryski go 57.38 seconds in the 100 freestyle for fifth place. Thayer also was seventh in the 200 and 500 freestyle races, with Filhan seventh in the 100 butterfly.
