Swimming and diving championships begin Thursday

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

Burnt Hills/Scotia senior Olivia Jack competes in a Sept. 4 meet against Shenendehowa.

The Section II girls’ swimming and diving championship meet begins Thursday and runs through Saturday at the Shenendehowa High School Aquatic Center.

Competition begins Thursday at 4 p.m. with diving for all athletes, and swimming preliminaries are Friday starting with Division 2 at 10:30 a.m. and Division 1 at 3:30 p.m. The finals Saturday are at 10 a.m. for Division 2 and 3 p.m. for Division 1.

In Division 1, Guilderland/Voorheesville is the No. 1 seed in all three relays, and Burnt Hills/Scotia senior Olivia Jack (50-yard freestyle, 100 butterfly) and Niskayuna junior Yunfan “Lisa” Dong (200 Individual medley, 100 backstroke) are double No. 1 seeds in the individual events.

Mohonasen/Schalmont has nine No. 1 swimming seeds in Division 2 with all three relays, senior Alexandra Dixon (100 fly, 500 free), senior Olivia Nelson (100 breaststroke, 50 free) and sophomore Mary Kate Conway (100 free, 200 free).

Last year

Then-senior Maggie Wyngowski turned in a star performance for Division 1 team champion Niskayuna, with wins in the 200 IM and 100 back, and an anchor leg on the Silver Warriors’ first-place 400 free relay to cap the meet.

The Division 2 team title went to Albany Academy as Sarah Herbold won the 200 free and 500 free, Colleen Quaglia won the 100 back and 200 IM, and both of the then-seniors helped Bears take the 200 free relay.

Team streaks

Niskayuna and Shenendehowa have had a grip on the Division 1 team title over the past nine years, with Shenendehowa winning in 2008 and 2009, and every odd year afterward. Niskayuna won teams titles every even year starting in 2010.

Albany Academy won the last four Division 2 team titles, with Mohonasen/Schalmont second three times in that span. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake claimed seven straight small-school titles through 2012.

Something to consider

Niskayuna went 9-0 in winning the Suburban Council title and defeated Shenendehowa 108-78 as part of its perfect performance. Shenendehowa swam that dual meet with only two days of recovery time after beating out state power Pittsford and 19 other teams to win its home invitational. What will a fresher Shenendehowa team be able to accomplish?

Seeking double digits

Jack has nine Section II titles entering the meet including six in individual events. Among the six are a trio of 100 breaststroke firsts. Before her victory in that event in 2016, the Scotia-Glenville student and Penn State commit swam a Section II-record 1:01.33 in the preliminaries.

Fast relay

Mohonasen/Schalmont’s 400 free relay team of Dixon, Conway, Amaya DiGiovanni and Emily Holman swam the state’s fastest time with a 3:36.01 at the Oct. 7 Shenendehowa Invitational. The foursome went 3:36.65 in securing the Division 2 title at the 2016 sectionals.

Mohonasen/Schalmont also won Division 2 400 free relay titles in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and Dixon was a part of each one.

D1 Youth movement

Division 1 top seeds include Bethlehem freshman Megan Novak (100 free), Niskayuna sophomore Lillian Bushway (500 free) and Guilderland/Voorheesville sophomore Kasey Keaney (100 breast). The top 11 seeds in the 200 IM are underclassmen, and the top seven seeds in the 100 back are underclassmen.

Diving in

Tess Weiskopf of Shenendehowa has the best qualifying point total for the Division I diving, an event won by her sister, Sydney, in 2014. The Division 1 diving group includes No. 2 defending champ Evanna Peng of Guilderland/Voorheesville, No. 9 2015 champ Felicity Ryan of Saratoga Springs.

TOP SEEDS

DIVISION 1

200 medley relay: 1. Guilderland/Voorheesville, 1:49.90; 2. Niskayuna, 1:51.05; 3. Shenendehowa, 1:51.93; 4. Bethlehem, 1:52.71; 5. Ballston Spa, 1:52.83.

200 free: 1. Elaine Lipkin (Nisk), 1:57.53; 2. Stephanie Erickson (GV), 1:57.68; 3. Lauren Ostrander (Shen), 1:58.31; 4. Lillian Bushway (Nisk), 1:58.86; 5. Sarah Wettergreen (Shen), 1:59.06.

200 IM: 1. Yunfan Dong (Nisk), 2:08.42; 2. Kasey Keaney (GV), 2:11.05; 3. Sydney Sorbello (BC), 2:12.03; 4. Shauna Killane (Shen), 2:12.43; 5. Shannon Waryncia (Shen), 2:13.12.

50 free: 1. Olivia Jack (BHS), 24.34; 2. Belen Marriaga (GV), 24.51; 3. Megan Novak (BC), 24.92; 4. Natasha Sheffer (Shen), 25.41; 5. Annalise Pepper (BS), 25.51.

Diving: 1. Tess Weiskopf (Shen), 297.30; 2. Evanna Peng (GV), 284.15; 3. Eliana Wallock (GV), 279.40; 4. Talia Spenziero (Shen), 270.35; 5. Maya Earleywine (BC), 255.30.

100 fly: 1. Olivia Jack (BHS), 57.46; 2. Belen Marriaga (GV), 58.41; 3. Shauna Killane (Shen), 59.79; 4. Jessica Salmon (Shen), 1:00.00; 5. Shannon Waryncia (Shen), 1:00.48.

100 free: 1. Megan Novak (BC), 54.05; 2. Stephanie Erickson (GV), 54.33; 3. Isabel Bushway (Nisk), 55.03; 4. Corinne Pepper (BS), 55.04; 5. Natasha Sheffer (Shen), 55.49.

500 free: 1. Lillian Bushway (Nisk), 5:09.91; 2. Elaine Lipkin (Nisk), 5:11.48; 3. Lauren Sposili (Shen), 5:13.77; 4. Alison Sposili (Shen), 5:15.50; 5. Vicky Silaika (Shen), 5:20.21.

200 free relay: 1. Guilderland/Voorheesville, 1:40.64; 2. Shenendehowa, 1:41.01; 3. Bethlehem, 1:41.58; 4. Niskayuna, 1:42.03; 5. Ballston Spa, 1:43.30.

100 back: 1. Yunfan Dong (Nisk), 57.17; 2. Alice Han (Shen), 58.83; 3. Sydney Sorbello (BC), 1:00.12; 4. Erin Wadsworth (GV), 1:00.21; 5. Emma Hoffman (BS), 1:00.97.

100 breast: 1. Kasey Keaney (GV), 1:07.48; 2. Emily Yu (Shak), 1:07.82; 3. Jessica Salmon (Shen), 1:08.41; 4. Corinne Pepper (BS), 1:08.83; 5. Alison Sposili (Shen), 1:08.87.

400 free relay: 1. Guilderland/Voorheesville, 3:39.48; 2. Shenendehowa, 3:40.68; 3. Niskayuna, 3:40.80; 4. Bethlehem, 3:45.06; 5. Ballston Spa, 3:50.04.

DIVISION 2

200 medley relay: 1. Mohonasen/Schalmont, 1:52.49; 2. Albany Academy, 1:54.22; 3. Glens Falls, 1:58.83; 4. Queensbury, 1:59.74; 5. Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk, 2:01.67.

200 free: 1. Mary Kate Conway (MS), 1:54.45; 2. Amaya DiGiovanni (MS), 2:01.67; 3. Kailyn Anselment (GF), 2:03.03; 4. Isabel Nelson (AA), 2:04.48; 5. Keegan Klima (AA), 2:05.62.

200 IM: 1. Gillian Burch (RCS), 2:11.91; 2. Liv Eisenhardt (AA), 2:16.49; 3. Gabrielle Bianco (EW), 2:19.13; 4. Emily Sulik (RCS), 2:20.41; 5. Megan Plante (AA), 2:22.77.

50 free: 1. Olivia Nelson (MS), 25.40; 2. Claire Gerdeman (AA), 25.72; 3. Emily Holman (MS), 26.13; 4. Ella Wolfstich (GF), 26.24; 5. Marianna Santabarbara (MS), 26.39.

Diving: 1. Megan Cook (Q), 289.40; 2. Taylor Barber (BG), 202.40; 3. Libbie Sturgess-Mansell (GM), 193.50; 4. Lauren White (Q), 192.75; 5. Caroline Pecor (MS), 192.20.

100 fly: 1. Alexandra Dixon (MS), 59.12; 2. Chloe Derosia (AA), 1:00.90; 3. Willow Swan-Scott (Q), 1:02.81; 4. Liv Eisenhardt (AA), 1:02.94; 5. Emily Holman (MS), 1:03.04.

100 free: 1. Mary Kate Conway (MS), 54.11; 2. Emily Miles (FJ), 54.59; 3. Claire Gerdeman (AA), 56.41; 4. Emily Murphy (AA), 57.33; 5. Ella Wolfstich (GF), 57.87.

500 free: 1. Alexandra Dixon (MS), 5:07.95; 2. Amaya DiGiovanni (MS), 5:16.47; 3. Kailyn Anselment (GF), 5:24.41; 4. Emily Sulik (RCS), 5:30.39; 5. Isabel Nelson (AA), 5:30.76.

200 free relay: 1. Mohonasen/Schalmont, 1:41.00; 2. Albany Academy, 1:45.06; 3. Queensbury, 1:46.38; 4. Glens Falls, 1:49.10; 5. Emma Willard, 1:49.40.

100 back: 1. Chloe Derosia (AAlbany), 1:00.34; 2. Kylie Salerno (MH), 1:00.61; 3. Megan Plante (AA), 1:05.04; 4. Willow Swan-Scott (Q), 1:05.08; 5. Kayla Keddy (Q), 1:05.65.

100 breast: 1. Olivia Nelson (MS), 1:06.84; 2. Gillian Burch (RCS), 1:08.01; 3. Bella Amedio (AA), 1:10.32; 4. Emily Miles (FJ), 1:11.58; 5. Emma Mauro (GF), 1:13.10.

400 free relay: 1. Mohonasen/Schalmont, 3:36.01; 2. Albany Academy, 3:58.58;3. Emma Willard, 3:59.46; 4. Queensbury, 3:59.53; 5. Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk, 4:05.54.

Reach Gazette Sportswriter Jim Schiltz at 518-395-3143, [email protected] or @jim_schiltz on Twitter.