The Bonac girls swim team had its best finish since 2016 at the Section XI championship meet at Stony Brook University on Nov. 7, finishing in fourth place with 142 points. All of the girls who participated swam either a season-best or a lifetime-best time. All three relay teams — the 200-yard medley relay, the 200-yard freestyle relay, and the 400-yard freestyle relay — have now qualified for the New York State meet. It’s the first time all three have made the state cut since 2015.
“The dedication and hard work they put in throughout the season shone through in their efforts in the meet. The girls were prepared, excited, and ready to compete and represent their school,” said Craig Brierley, the head coach.
Nine girls from the team qualified for the Section XI meet — Molly Grande, Ginger Griffin, Lucy Knight, Mia Milazzo, Avienne O’Shea, Sydney Powers, Olivia Robertson, Heidi Rizzo, and Vanessa Rizzo. Each of them participated in at least one of the relays. Together, the three relay teams accounted for 68 of the team’s 142 points.
The 200-yard freestyle relay — Heidi Rizzo, Griffin, O’Shea, and Powers — finished first in the county in 1:40.11, improving upon their previous state-qualifying time. Each of the girls also swam a personal best in the race.
The 400-yard freestyle relay — Powers, Heidi Rizzo, O’Shea, and Vanessa Rizzo — finished second in 3:39.73. They qualified for the state meet and also improved their best
time of the season by 24 seconds, each also swimming a personal best time in this race.
The 200-yard medley relay — Milazzo (backstroke), Robertson (breaststroke), Grande (butterfly), and Knight (freestyle) — finished eighth in 2:01.12. Once again, each of the girls swam a personal best. The medley relay team had already qualified for the state meet at the League 1 Championship last month.
Individually, O’Shea was the team’s top scorer with 20 points. She finished fifth in both the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke. Vanessa Rizzo had the team’s best individual finish, taking third place in the 200-yard freestyle. She also finished seventh in the 50-yard freestyle. Heidi Rizzo finished fifth in the 200-yard freestyle and sixth in the 100-yard freestyle. Powers finished sixth in the 50-yard freestyle and ninth in the 100-yard freestyle.
Griffin swam a personal best time of 26.56 in the 50-yard freestyle. Knight swam a personal best time of 1:07.18 in the 100-yard backstroke.
The captains chose Powers, a sophomore, as their swimmer of the meet.
“They were thrilled to award Sydney this week, especially for her best-time efforts in all four of her events, an extremely difficult task when specializing in the sprint events,” Brierley said. “Sydney absolutely loves to race and is extremely focused on going as fast as she can, and she continues to work hard on the skills to make that happen.”
The girls will be back in the pool at 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 20, for the start of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at the Webster Aquatic Center in Webster, N.Y.
