ONONDAGA COUNTY – What might prove the difference for the Liverpool girls swim team in its quest for the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division regular-season title was its Oct. 11 defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius.
Both the Warriors and Hornets had 6-1 records, but since F-M won head-to-head it went to the top, only making Liverpool hungrier for their rematch in the Section III Class A championships next month.
Meanwhile, the Warriors rebounded from the F-M defeat Wednesday night with a strong effort against West Genesee, putting away the Wildcats 102-82 in advance of next Wednesday’s regular-season finale against unbeaten (6-0) Jamesville-DeWitt.
Arianna Kuznia and Brielle Bryant won two individual races apiece, Kuznia taking the 50-yard freestyle in 27.31 seconds over Ruby Brown (28.18) and the 100 freestyle in 58.43 to Elizabeth Manley’s second-place 59.59.
Bryant would hold off Natalie Thompson, 2:30.53 to 2:30.95, to finish first in the 200 individual medley and then take the 100 butterfly in 1:07.32 while also pairing with Kuznia, Thompson and Manley to zoom to victory in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:51.88.
Thompson would get her own title in the 500 freestyle in 6:11.71 to edge WG’s Lena Kent (6:14.29) as Brown was victorious in the 100 breaststroke in 1:16.65 after she helped Abby Lane, Madelyn Jewett and Mary Hayden edge the Wildcats 2:14.37 to 2:14.66 in the 200 medley relay.
Going 1-2 in diving, Liverpool had June Piorkowski put up 250.55 points and Molly Murphy earn 225.25 points. Lane (1:16.95) edged Hayden (1:17.07) for second in the 100 backstroke as Delaynie Jessie got second in the 200 freestyle.
As this went on, Cicero-North Syracuse engaged in a close, exciting meet with Skaneateles at Nottingham High School where the Northstars did enough on the team side to withstand the Lakers winning most of the races and claim a 91-89 victory.
A key event was diving, where Sophia Sugrue needed every bit of her 247.25 points to fend off the 243.15 put up by Skaneateles’ Phoebe Bedard, a two-point difference in a meet ultimately decided by two points.
Leah Benedict went 1:03.76 to take first in the 100 butterfly by more than three seconds over Landyn Bennett (1:07.09) as Cassidy Payrot won the 100 backstroke in 1:05.88 to the 1:09.61 from the Lakers’ Ana Nichols.
Payrot, Benedict, Molly Gucciardi and Katelyn Stewart were a close second (2:05.74) to Skaneateles (2:05.25) in the 200 medley relay, Stewart also getting second in the 100 freestyle in 1:05.04 and third in the 100 breaststroke. Brigid Gill went 6:25.22 for second in the 500 freestyle.
Gucciardi, third in the 100 freestyle (1:05.67), took second in the 200 IM in 2:36.73, with Benedict’s 26.08 seconds in the 50 freestyle trailing the 25.34 from Marcellus swimmer Vivian Pilon. The Northstars were second in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:53.56.
Liverpool and C-NS divers went to Nottingham on Saturday for the Burgos Diving Invitational where Piorkowski nearly went to the top of the standings for the Warriors.
With her total of 447.55 points Piorkowski only trailed the 457.90 of Jamesville-DeWitt’s Kayla McQuaid, while Sugrue gave C-NS a third-place finish with 426.35 and Murphy was fourth for the Warriors with 423.05.
