Falls girls make history in the pool
Teammates qualify for 3 events in state swimming championships
NIAGARA FALLS — They’re young, and likely will have a better Friday or two during their lifetimes, but Friday, Nov. 14, is going to be pretty tough to top for members of the Niagara Falls High School girls swimming team.
On that special day at the Section VI meet, members of the Wolverines’ 200-and 400-freestyle relay teams qualified for the New York State Swimming Championships.
That’s a pretty huge deal in itself. It’s even bigger considering before that freaky Friday only one girls relay team from a city public school — including old Niagara Falls, LaSalle and Trott Vocational high schools — had ever qualified for states.
But there’s more.
Niagara Falls had already qualified its 200 medley relay team for states prior to sectionals — a crew that dropped its qualifying time by 2.5 seconds before the freestyle relay teams did their thing.
That means the Wolverines achieved a hat trick that even traditionally strong scholastic swim programs rarely accomplish.
Flaunting their skills at the state meet Friday and Saturday at the Erie Community College Flickinger Center Natatorium were juniors Ashley Eddings (200-and 400-free relays), Kristen Champoux (200-and 400- free relays), Ana Gabriele (200 medley relay, 200-and 400-free relays) and Kelsey Ward (200 medley relay and 100 backstroke); freshmen Emily York (200-and 400-free relays, 50 freestyle, alternate on medley relay) and Lauren Evans (200 medley relay and 100 breaststroke); and sophomores Maggie Garito (200 medley relay, alternate on 400 relay) and Alexa Masker (200-free relay alternate). (Results were too late for the Niagara Weekend deadline but see Sports Sunday
for complete results.) “These girls, it’s kind of funny,
when they first started swimming [six to eight years ago], they really weren’t that good,” said Falls coach Ed Maynard, who also runs the White Water Swim Club that was started by his late father, Paul. “They were just good, hard-working kids who came to my swim club. . . . The hard work has paid off. I’m proud of them, I really am.
“Niagara Falls and swimming kind of don’t go hand-in-hand. We really wanted to put ourselves on the map for having another team [besides boys basketball] out here that can excel in Western New York and throughout the state.”
The 200-and 400-free relays teams also dropped at least two seconds off their previous best times at sectionals. The 400-free relay team of Eddings, Champoux, Gabriele and York qualified in a school record time of 3:44.01. The 200-free team, featuring the same foursome, dropped 2.18 seconds, and its finishing time of 1:41.4 missed the school record set in 2002 by the state-bound team of Ashley Clingersmith, Jenna Copelin, Jessica Billings and Nicole McCoy by .18 seconds.
“I think it’s one of the biggest accomplishments not only that I’ve had, but I’ve grown up with these girls,” Eddings said. “I think it’s just good because we’re representing the training our coach puts us through, and it shows the rest of the state what we can do.”
They already have opened some eyes throughout the area. The Wolverines placed second at the Niagara Frontier League meet earlier this month. They also finished second in team scoring at the Section VI meet, with the only crew to beat them each time being perennial power Kenmore West.
But qualifying eight swimmers for states sure is a nice consolation prize for being second best.
The Niagara Falls girls didn’t even realize until last Monday that they had finished second at sectionals. Forgive them for not noticing that accomplishment. It took a few days for the historic significance of their state-qualifying feats to finally hit them.
“It still hasn’t sunk in that we’ve gone this fast, but it’s slowly sinking in there,” Champoux said last Tuesday.
“It was just a great moment to be able to stand up on the podium at sectionals and know that I qualified for states,” Ward said. “This is really huge. It’s like the biggest thing I’ve ever done. It’s just really nice to be able to share this experience with my friends.”
Evans is ecstatic the Wolverines’ state caravan increased from five to eight.
“Friday was just a really good meet for us,” she said. “I think it’s really good for all of us because it sets us up for next year, and we expect to do even better next year. It gives us the confidence to do better because we know we can do it.”
Gabriele, who said the team also did some running as part of its training regimen, just missed qualifying as an individual for states last year while competing in the 50 free. It took a year, but the stinging pain from that miss is gone.
“Just knowing I’m going for three relays is a really good feeling,” she said. “Individually, I think I’ve worked my hardest than in any season I’ve swam. . . . I know the girls [did that, too].”
“This,” Garito said, “is what we’ve all been working for our whole swimming careers.”
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