JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS
Clockwise from top left, Fox Lane’s Annabel Smith on her way to victory in the breaststroke. Mia Levey swims freestyle race for Fox Lane against SHEDI. Natalie Lovig on her way to victory in the backstroke. Maddie Nurenberg wins the 200-yard freestyle race for the Foxes.
By JIM MACLEAN
The Fox Lane girls varsity swim team went on the road to Tarrytown to take on the combined team of Sleepy Hollow, Hastings, Edgemont and Irvington at the EF Foundation swimming pool, and it looked like the Foxes were up against a small army.
The SHEDI squad filled the lanes and entered multiple swimmers in every event for multiple heats, but in the end the numbers didn’t match up against the quality of the Fox Lane swimmers as the Foxes pulled out an 89-79 victory.
“It was close to the end, a very exciting meet,” admitted Fox Lane coach Laurie Kelleher. “We never swam them before so I didn’t know what to expect, but we pulled it out.”
Of course, it helps when you have a senior captain who is a defending New York State champion, and Annabel Smith did her part as usual to lead the Foxes to the victory.
Smith won the 100-yard breaststroke race, and she also anchored the 400-yard freestyle relay team to victory for the Foxes and she was second in the 100-yard freestyle.
“She’s very confident now, a defending state champion, a team captain, she’s happy to set a good example for the rest of the team,” Kelleher said of Smith.
While Smith sets the tone, the Foxes have a deep talented team with several returning veterans in the lineup, even though they are still young.
“Maddie Nurenberg, Natalie Lovig, Kelsey Grayson are all doing awesome and swimming great,” added Kelleher. “We still have a lot of young talent, so we’ll continue to be good. The eighth-, ninth- and 10th-graders are all very strong and getting better every meet.”
Against SHEDI, Nurenberg was victorious in the 200-yard freestyle event, and she finished second in the 100-yard butterfly race. Grayson won the butterfly race, and she was third in the breaststroke. Novig was victorious in the 100-yard backstroke race. Mia Levey was second in the 500-yard freestyle and third in the 200-yard freestyle race. Clara Cattanach was second in the 200-yard individual medley race with teammate Isabel Valenzuela in third. Eva Orscher was second in the 50-yard freestyle race and Elise Rubakh was third. Madeline Oh was third in the 100-yard freestyle.
Fox Lane won two of the three relay races, with Nurenberg, Sophia Oh, Cattanach and Orscher teaming up to win the 200-yard freestyle relay, while Nurenberg, Cattanach, Grayson and Smith were victorious in the 400-yard freestyle relay event.
Fox Lane also defeated Suffern to open the season with a 98-77 victory on the road. Grayson was a double winner for the Foxes as she swam to victories in the butterfly and individual medley races. Smith was a winner in the 100 free and breaststroke. Nurenberg won the 200 free and was second in the 100 free; Levey won the 500 free and was second in the 200 free; and Cattanach was second in both the individual medley and butterfly races.
Editor's note: The Sept. 20 print version of this story, misspelled the last name of sisters Madeline and Sophia Oh. It has been corrected here.