It was a good day to be a swimmer from Saratoga County.
Several Saratoga and Shenendehowa swimmers earned individual titles, and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake won the class B team title at last Saturday’s Section II Championships at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Shen’s Kara Zebrowski won two individual class A titles, while teammate Kelsey Barbour and Saratoga’s Bridget Rowland added victories in their events to qualify for the state meet Nov. 17 and 18 at Erie Community College in Buffalo.
Beautiful swims absolutely beautiful swims,` Shen coach Pat Seligman said of Zebrowski. `She’s just a quality performer.`
BH-BL had strong performances from Kayleigh Ahern, Amy Lamparelli and Courtney Schwarting to win the class B team title with 424 points, more than 100 points ahead of Queensbury.
`We had a great meet,` said BH-BL coach Matt Turner. `The girls swam well, and this was the focus of our season.`
Zebrowski led Shen with victories in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke. The sophomore claimed the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:54.90 and won the 100 backstroke in a time of 58.35 seconds.
Barbour contributed a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.32 and earned a state meet berth in the 200 freestyle with a third-place time of 1:58.33.
Barbour and Zebrowski teamed up with Courtney Neuber and Katie Swimm to win the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:40.59 and finish third in the 200 medley relay with a state meet-qualifying time of 1:51.31.
`That 200 freestyle relay just gelled over the last two weeks,` said Seligman.
Saratoga is sending its 200 medley relay team to states as Sectional champions. The quartet of Rowland, Maggie Callesano, Lisa Jackson and Taylor Sloane claimed the class A title in a time of 1:51.14.
Rowland took the class A title in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.08 and placed third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.38 seconds. Callesano earned a state meet berth in the 200 freestyle with a fourth-place time of 1:58.70, and Jackson qualified for states in the 200 individual medley with a third-place time of 2:13.82.
Saratoga and Shen are also sending divers to states. Saratoga’s Elizabeth Rice finished second at Sectionals with a score of 478.75 points. Shen’s Andrea Krok was fourth with a score of 451.00 points, and Saratoga’s Roynan Krebs placed eighth with a score of 395.05 points.
Ahern will represent BH-BL at states. The junior won the class B titles in the 100 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke with respective times of 54.95 seconds and 1:08.20.
Lamparelli added a class B title in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:02.27 and placed second in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:18.96.
BH-BL added victories in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. The 200 freestyle relay team of Ahern, Schwarting, Courtney Duchesne and Erin Ludeke won with a time of 1:46.22, and the 400 freestyle relay team of Ludeke, Lamparelli, Ahern and Schwarting took top honors with a time of 3:49.39.
Saratoga and Shen finished second and third in the class A team standings. The Blue Streaks finished with 340 poi nts, 78 points behind class A champion Bethlehem. Shen was third with 291 points.“
