By Mike Zummo
Another Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II championship meet is in the books and another dominating performance by the Pine Bush girls’ swimming and diving team.
Pine Bush won eight events, including all three relays and cruised to a first-place finish with 679 points, 182 points ahead of second-place Washingtonville.
The Valley Central Vikings were third with 301.5 points and Wallkill took eighth with 89 points.
Pine Bush won all three relays and took the top two spots in the 200-yard medley and the 400-yard freestyle relays. Pine Bush also got two wins each from Mackenzie Gula (200-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly) and Elishka Hajek (50-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke).
Sadie DeGeorge won the 100-yard breaststroke.
Valley Central’s Rian Dickman picked up wins in the 200-yard freestyle, picking up a state qualifying time, and the 100-yard freestyle. Grace Wienchowski won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:22.44.
Pine Bush’s 200-yard medley relay team of Hajek, DeGeorge, Martin and Gula opened the meet by lowering its state-qualifying time to 1:50.07, while the team of Sophia Licardi, Ella Humphrey, Alexandra Vargas and Cora Mance were nearly five seconds behind them.
Dickman swam one of the closest races at the meet as Dickman qualified for states with a winning time of 1:57.20. Madaghan O’Shea was hot on her tail with a time of 1:58.08 and Samantha McKee right behind her. Wienchowski and Cali White finished fourth and fifth for Valley Central while Wallkill’s Andie Psilopoulos finished sixth.
DeGeorge finished second, about five seconds behind Gula in the 200-yard individual medley. Martin took sixth and Alexandra Vargas was 11th.
Mance was third in the 50-yard freestyle and Sophia Licardi was fifth. Grace Satriano was seventh and Giannie Restivo was 14th for Valley Central. Pine Bush’s Abigail Pearson and Katherine Sassi were 15th and 16th.
Pine Bush’s Paige Gandolfini finished eighth in diving with an 11-dive score of 306.80, while Valley Central’s Rilee Kinsley and Riley Conan finished eighth and ninth with respective scores of 282.10 and 281.60. Pine Bush’s Grace Gibson was 11th with a score of 265.30. All four were Section 9 qualifying scores.
Martin and Vargas were fifth and seventh in the 100-yard butterfly for Pine Bush, while Wallkill’s Kaitlyn Bonner was 10th.
McKee finished second behind Dickman in the 100-yard freestyle, and O’Shea was tied for third with Minisink Valley’s Michaela Hujus for third. Pine Bush’s Katie Webster was fifth with Satriano was seventh and Mance took eighth. Pine Bush’s Amanda Eagan was 14th.
Psilopoulos was third in the 500-yard freestyle, ahead of Pine Bush’s Sara Ippolito and about three seconds off Wienckowski’s winning pace. Pine Bush’s Nina Camacho was seventh and Maya Oakes was ninth. Valley Central’s Emily White was 10th and Bonner finished 16th.
Valley Central’s team of Dickman, Wienckowski, Satriano and Cali White were second behind Pine Bush’s team of Hajek, Mance, McKee and Gula, which finished first by lowering their state qualifying time.
Pine Bush’s second team finished fourth and Valley Central’s second team was seventh. Wallkill was 12th.
Licardi was second in the 100-yard backstroke behind Hajek and Amanda Eagan and Oakes were fourth and fifth. Camacho was seventh and Alanah Giannini was ninth. Valley Central’s Samantha Messing was 15th.
Pine Bush’s Ella Humphrey was second in the 100-yard breaststroke with Valley Central’s Kaidyn Thompson taking seventh, and Olivia Messing taking ninth. Wallkill’s Meghan MacEntee was 11th. Valley Central’s Caitlyn Wieczorek was seventh.
Valley Central was eighth in the 400-yard freestyle relay and Wallkill was ninth.