SYRACUSE – When the Baldwinsville girls swim team went to Nottingham High School for Wednesday’s Section III Class A championship meet sophomore Olivia McManus would stand out in several ways, and nowhere was this more the case than in the 100-yard butterfly.
With her time of 59.52 seconds, McManus not only beat the field by more than three seconds, she also got under the 1:00.02 standard needed to qualify for the Nov. 22-23 state championship meet at Webster Aquatic center.
McManus’ previous best time in the fall in this event was 1:03.97 – which freshman Addie Atherton beat with 1:03.88 to grab third in the event, later adding a sixth in the 100 breaststroke going 1:17.06.
Two days later, looking to repeat her victory in the sectional state qualifier, McManus finished in 1:00.37, just beaten out by the 1:00.16 from Oswego’s Joscelyn Coniski, while Allison Kyle made her way to third place in the 500 freestyle in 5:35.67.
Back in the Class A meet, McManus battled for top honors in the 200 individual medley as she finished in 2:21.09, runner-up to the winning 2:19.42 of Cicero-North Syracuse’’s Leah Benedict.
Eighth-grader Ella Mekker was eighth in the 200 IM 2:31.88 but did better in the 100 backstroke, going a season-best 1:04.90 to snare third place not far from the winning 1:02.76 put up by another Northstars swimmer, Cassidy Payrot, as Addy Grosso was sixth in 1:10.06.
Sophomore Caydence Szkotak swam well, too, her 500 freestyle time of 5:50.44 second only to the 5:47.02 of Fayetteville-Manlius’ Meghan Groshans as Natalie Pietricola took 15th place.
Earlier in the meet Szkotak got to fourth place in the 200 freestyle in a season-best 2:09.59, with Sage Premo 15th in 2:23.21 to go with a 16th in the 100 freestyle. Then, to close the meet, Szkotak, McManus, Atherton and Mekker would put up 3:56.95 in the 400 freestyle relay, runner-up to the 3:54.27 from Liverpool.
Overall, the Bees had 243 points, just beating out the much larger C-NS squad (240.5) for fifth place in a nine-team field. Liverpool (374 points) held off Fayetteville-Manlius (331) for its first sectional Class A team title since 2007.
In the opening 200 medley relay McManus, Mekker, Atherton and Gwendolen Matt made their way to third place in 2:01.32 as C-NS (1:58.10) edged F-M (1:58.78) for first. The Bees were also fifth in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:53.99 as Grosso took 12th in the 50 freestyle in 28.04 seconds.
