Fox Lane swimmers finish strong at state meet

Fox Lane swimmers (l to r) Maddie Nurenberg, Kelsey Grayson, Natalie Lovig, Clara Cattanach and Madeline Oh get ready for the start of the New York state championships. Fox Lane/Laurie Kelleher Photo

By JIM MACLEAN 

It can be intimidating to a young swimmer heading upstate to compete at the New York State championships in the Webster Aquatic Center near Rochester.

A 10-lane pool filled with hundreds of the best swimmers from all across the state and a noisy crowd cheering them on, every swimmer could admit to feeling the nervous butterflies anxious to hit the water as they approached the starting blocks. It is especially hard for young underclass swimmers going up against senior veterans.

Fox Lane sent five swimmers upstate, while John Jay had two qualifiers earn the chance to compete in the two-day meet for the state championships held in Webster on Nov. 21-22, and both schools are thrilled that all of their swimmers will have a chance to come back again next year.

For Fox Lane, it was another year and another learning experience as most of the Foxes were there last year for the states, and all of them are still underclassmen with another year of experience and anxious to make it back again next fall.

Abbey Hehman competed in two events for John Jay at the state meet.

Kelsey Grayson swam to a fifth-place finish in butterfly for the Foxes. Greg Kaplowitz Photos

Swimmers from 130 different schools across the state competed in the meet, which combined the state and Federation meet in the overall results. Fox Lane finished 18th in the team scoring as the Foxes compiled a score of 75.5 points overall. 

“We were very pleased to have five girls up there doing both individual and relay events,” explained Fox Lane coach Laurie Kelleher. “They all performed nicely and represented us well, and yes, we are really looking forward to next year as they will all be back and hopefully more girls will also qualify next year to join them.”

Leading the way for Fox Lane was sophomore Kelsey Grayson as she earned a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly event with a time of 56.47. Grayson was eighth after the preliminary rounds on Saturday, but she went all out for the finals and cut her time down by half a second to move up to fifth.

The butterfly is a specialty for Fox Lane as the Foxes had four swimmers earn the chance to compete in the event at the state meet. In addition to Grayson in fifth place, Maddie Nurenberg finished 18th, Clara Cattanach was 25th, and Madeline Oh was 39th overall.

The meet got off to a good start for Fox Lane as the Foxes competed in the first event as the team of Natalie Lovig, Cattanach, Grayson and Nurenberg finished 11th in the 200-yard medley relay event with a time of 149.97.

That same quartet finished off the meet with another impressive swim as Nurenberg, Cattanach, Lovig and Grayson teamed up for an 10th-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:39.79.

In the 200-yard individual medley event, Grayson finished 17th overall and Lovig was 32nd for the Foxes.

Fox Lane had two swimmers qualify for the 100-yard backstroke event as Lovig finished 18th overall and Cattanach was 35th.

Grayson is only a sophomore, while Cattanach, Lovig, Nurenberg and Oh are all juniors, and most of the rest of the Fox Lane team returns as well next fall with a strong lineup of veterans as Kelleher anticipates a big year ahead in the pool for the Foxes.

John Jay had two competitors qualify for the meet, and both were there for the first time as sophomore swimmer Abbey Hehman and freshman diver Samantha Mishler made the trip north for the Wolves.

“The girls did so well and this is a high profile meet competing against the best athletes across the state,” said John Jay/North Salem coach Suzanne Guziec. “This is Abbey’s third trip to the state meet. Last year she did not make it back to the finals, so to see her make it back to finals day was a big goal that she met. She was 13th and 15th in the state, which has fed her motivation heading into next year.”

Hehman competed in two events, as she was 21st in the 200-yard freestyle event with a personal best time of 1:55.74. Hehman was then 21st in the 100-yard backstroke, one spot behind Lovig.

Mishler competed in the one-meter diving event despite being only a freshman. She earned the chance to compete by qualifying with her second-place finish at the Section 1 championships and made her first trip to the states. It is especially hard for a freshman diver at states, the first event to be held opening the meet on Friday morning, and all eyes are on you as each competitor takes their dive with the rest of the pool silent.

“Samantha was edged out of the top 16, but the experience of making it through the first two rounds and eight dives is invaluable looking forward,” Guziec said of Mishler. “For divers, it is a high level to even qualify, so many athletes posting their best scores and hardest dives, it is elite and special.”

Mishler competed in the one-meter diving event and finished in 22nd place overall with a final score of 291.8.