Owego Swimming and Diving falls short in bid for back-to-back sectional titles

It was a bittersweet day for the Owego Free Academy Indians Girls Swimming and Diving team last week as their bid to repeat as NYS Section 4 Class B Champions fell just short to Chenango Valley. 

Owego was led for the final time by its team leader, captain and only senior, Summer Pierce, who was also named Section 4 Class B Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet for the third year in a row. 

Summer helped start the meet off right by leading the team of Ashleigh Gault, Emma Stephenson and Katie Shoen to a win in the 200 yard Medley Relay with a state qualifying time of 1:50.03. 

Stephenson followed that up with a 2:02.98 in the 200 yard Free for a Second Place finish, with  Abigail Lavo in 9th, Leah Watson 12th, and Holly Kersten in 15th. 

Pierce then crushed the 200 IM winning with a state qualifying time of 2:10.47, Taylor Pierce coming in 13th and Allison Fisher, 16th. Shoen then dominated the 50 Yard Free winning with a time of 25.07, with Jennifer Scott coming in 7th and Jemma Bergmann coming in 16th. 

In diving, Kailee Payne came in 1st with a state qualifying score of 486.95 and Taylor Pierce came in 10th. Again, it was Summer Pierce demonstrating her dominance in the 100 Yard Fly in a state qualifying time of 57.57 with Scott coming in 5th and Watson 12th, and Ashleigh Allen placing 14th. 

Gault cruised to a 2nd place spot in the 100-yard Free followed by Emma French in 7th and Bergmann in 14th. Stephenson captured 2nd in the 500 Yard Free followed by Lavo in 6th and Kersten in 15th. 

The relay team of Gault, Bergmann, French, and Scott placed 3rd in the 200 free relay. In the 100 Yard Back, Shoen glided to a state qualifying time and victory with a time of 1:00.40, followed by Gault in 2nd, French in 4th and Allison Shoen in 15th. Fisher then took 9th in the 100 Yard Breast and Payne came in 10th. 

The Final event of the day was the 400 Yard Free relay and the Owego ladies led by Summer Pierce, Katie Shoen, Jennifer Scott and Emma Stephenson held nothing back, winning with a State qualifying time of 3:42.67. The ladies dominated most of the events but just fell short in team standings. 

First year coach, Matt Kisloski, truly did a remarkable job with such a young team. The New York State Championships will be held at Ithaca College Nov. 16 and 17 with the OFA Indians sending seven ladies who will be competing in eight out of 12 events.