Fairport Defends Sectional Title

November 16, 2000 - Swimming fans across Monroe County gathered together this past Saturday at SUNY Brockport for the Section 5 Class A championships.

This year, Fairport and Pittsford battled each other to see who would walk away with the trophy.

Fairports' win would not come easy this year. The varsity women swimmers trailed Pittsford by eight points after the third event. The She-Sharks did not plan to lose this meet. Using their strength and determination to succeed, the swimmers came from behind to bring home the trophy.

"We always feel a little pressure going into each year because we were the champions," said an excited Jamie Adams afterwards. "But this year it was so close. There were three teams that were so close to each other and we just pulled through like we do every year. I hope we keep this going forever."

The meet began with the 200 medley relay: senior Kristin Schirmuhly led with the backstroke followed by Niclole Dibello (breast stroke), Christy Breen (butterfly) and Krista Larson (freestyle). Following completion of the event Fairport's time of 1:57.09 placed them in fourth place behind Pittsford (1:53.14), Penfield, (1:53.14), and Greece 1 (1:56.39).

In the 200 freestyle, Christy Breen's time of 1:59.69 narrowly defeated Irondequoit's Lauren Timby (1:58.79). Erin Legg took home 12th place points with a time of 2:13.72.

Fairport closed the gap between themselves and Pittsford in the 200 individual medley thanks to a strong performance by Adams. She won the event with a time of 2:11.34, finishing ahead of Webster's Aburey Kirchoff (2:13.28) and Irondequoits' Michelle McCreary (2:16.24).

The She-Sharks jumped past Pittsford into first place following the conclusion of the 50 freestyle through strong performances of three teammates. Jessica Blaha finished fourth in the race with a time of 25.27. Becky Potvin finished in fifth with a time of 25.37. Krista Larson (25.15) added seventh placed points to Fairports' total. Following the event, Fairport stood atop of the leaderboard with 93 points. Following Fairport on the leaderboard were: Pittsford 82, Webster, 54, Canandaigua 48, and Irondequoit 47 points.

At the girls one meter diving, which was held on Friday, Laurissa Prystaj qualified for All-American status with a score of 443.20. Prystaj finished ahead of Ashley Friend (387.85) of Canandaigua, Krystal Kaminski (327.90) of Churchville-Chili, and Kelly Abraham (312.60) of Rush-Henrietta.

Larson finished fourth in the 100 fly with a time of 1:01.63. She finished behind Webster's Kirchoff (1:00.00), Penfield's Brianne Krause (1:00.19) and Pittsford's Melanie Hill (101.37). After six events Fairport remained at the top of the leaderboard and held a 129-107.5 lead over second placed Pittsford.

In the 100 freestyle Blaha (54.90) and Potvin (55.02) finished third and fourth, respectively. Finishing ahead of Blaha and Potvin was Canandaigua' Laura Linek (53.59) and Webster's Kara Lynn Joyce (51.45) Both Linek and Joyce moved onto the state finals. Joyce's score also earned an automatic consideration for All-American status.

Following her All-American status bid, Joyce said she was "pretty much awestruck."

In the 500 freestyle Christy Breen (5:23.26) finished second to Lauren Timby (5:12.20) of Irondequoit. Both swimmers and third placed finisher Kristen Marullo (5:23.43) of Greece I moved onto the state meet. After eight events the leaderboard stood as follows: Fairport 177, Pittsford 140.5, Webster 94, and Canandaigua 89.

The next event at the meet was the 200 yard freestyle relay. Fairport's team of Larson, Potvin, Adams, and Blaha finished second with a time of 1:39.69. Finishing first, with a time of 1:39.02, was the Webster team of Emily Francis, Meghan Rosinski, Krichoff and Joyce.

In the 100 backstroke Kristin Schirmuhly finished with a time of 1:02.51. She finished behind Pittsford's Melanie Hill (59.34), Irondequoit's Michelle McCreary (1:00.84), Pittsford's Susan Allen (1:01.27), Greece I's Amber Harris (1:01.39). Greece I's Rachel Marullo (1:01.60) and Pittsford's Monica Jaferian (1:01.99). Following the event Fairport held a 213-201.5 lead over Pittsford. With third placed Webster and Canandaigua 87 and 100 points behind respectively, fans knew the meet would come down to Fairport and Pittsford.

In the 100 breaststroke Adams earned an All-American status bid by winning the event with a finishing time of 1:07.54. Adams and Penfield's Jessica Chang (1:10.00) both qualified for the state meet. With one event left to go, the leaderboard was as follows: Fairport 229, Pittsford 220.5, Webster 137, and Canandaigua 116.

The final event of the meet was the 400 freestyle relay. Fairport's team of Blaha, Potvin, Kristin Schirmuhly and Adams won the event and the meet with a time of 3:38.07. Penfield (3.38.77) finished the event in second, and Pittsford (3:45.46) finished third.

Following completion of the competition Fairport stood atop of the leaderboard with 261 points. Pittsford finished second with 244.5 points, Webster was third with 163 points, and Greece I was fourth with 136 points.

"I wasn't too concerned about winning the last event," said coach Mike Kennedy. "I would just like to see the girls who worked hard all year long just make it to the state finals."

Originally published in the Perinton-Fairport Post

2000