GENESEO – After getting out to an early lead, then falling behind 79-77 before the last race of the night, the Geneseo swim team rallied to tie the defending Class D champion York Golden Knights.
The Blue Devils were celebrating their four senior swimmers Kari Laidlaw, Stacy Ledwith, Raquel Ortero and Maggie Wheeler, all of whom have been with the team for six years.
“They are the heart of our team, they had a great day today, and they qualified for sectionals. So it was a wonderful day for them,” head coach Dan Johnson said of the seniors.
Geneseo swimmers won the first three races, including the 200 medley relay at a time of 1:59.83, swam by freshman Garrison Hunt, sophomores Zachary Shine and Eric Leary, and junior Gina Belfiore.
York swimmers then won four of the next five races, including the 50 freestyle, which senior Rob Perry won by just 12-hundredths of a second.
Shine won the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:09.35 to pull his team within two points going into the meet’s final race, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Geneseo’s team of sophomores Eric Leary, Thomas Marshall, Shine, and junior John Baker, barely edged out York with a time of 3:41.38, which lead to a final score of 85-85.
“York is the reigning Class D champions, and we haven’t beaten them in 7 years so this is a great start for us,” Johnson said.
Geneseo (4-7-1) will be in Bath on February 13th for the Section V Class D championship prelims.