Girls swimming: Hawkeyes place third at Section III Class C Championship
Kane, Hodgson win awards; Two more school records fall as swimmers prepare for state meet
GIRLS SWIMMING
Section III Class B/C Swimming Championships
(Coach John Hodgson wrote this about his team’s trip the to section meet Wednesday in Nottingham.)
It was the best of times Wednesday, Nov. 6, at the Varsity Girls Swimming Section III Championships at Nottingham High School in Syracuse. Twelve extraordinary student-athletes from Cooperstown and Milford arrived, saw and conquered at a super-meet of 23 teams from B and C divisions. Cooperstown placed third out of all C schools on a night with many, many notable highlights.
Two School Records Broken
The 2024 relay team that slayed the old 200 Medley Relay record achieved leaderboard status again, this time in the 400 Freestyle Relay. Caitlin O'Sullivan, Jaina Bischof, Polly Kennedy and Emily Kane swam the 4 x 100 free relay in 4:03.15, a quarter of a second faster than the previous record of 4:03.40 set by Tessa Griger, Matilda Francis, Delilah Griger and Eden Griger back in 2015.
The second record to fall was the 200 Individual Medley, (los event de muertos). Emily Kane posted an astonishing, unbelievable 2:16.60, usurping her previous school record of 2:17.74. Tenth grade Emily has held the fastest time in this event all season and is considered by all to be the GOAT, (girl of awesome technique).
Special Awards
In addition to all the incredible record-breaking and personal best times, Cooperstown's Emily Kane was awarded the highest honor, Class C "Swimmer of the Meet," and Coach John "Johnny" Hodgson was awarded Class C "Coach of the Year." Emily has won this award twice, back to back, and John has won this about four times in the past six seasons but who's counting?!
Let's recap the Section III Championships because everyone who swam was a winner; everyone did a fantastic job. It has been an incredibly long season, and these girls deserve all the praise and glory in the world. It has been an honor to be associated with a group of individuals who never stopped trying to improve, who represented their schools with pride and created everlasting memories for us all.
200 Medley relay: Jaina Bischof, Emily Kane, Caitlin O'Sullivan, Polly Kennedy. A first-place finish with a time of 2:01.42. This time was shy of their record-setting 2:01.03, but hey, still pretty good!
Arya Patel, Tara Phillips, Jaeliana Chase and Carleigh Williams swam the event in 2:25.33, breaking their record of 2:28.07. However, this PR didn't stick because they were unceremoniously disqualified for unknown reasons. That's why you always write a thank you card, just sayin'.
200 Freestyle: Caitlin O'Sullivan was impeccable, with a personal best of 2:09.44, beating her previous best of 2:12.67. A three-second drop? In this economy? With Caitlin in your event you are swimming against (a) the nicest person, and (b) the destroyer of all you hold dear. I felt sorry for the other athletes, sort of.
Queen Tara Phillips had a great 2:34.69, and Polly Kennedy had a super 2:38.80. Watching them swim the 200 free was thrilling ... two of the toughest young women swimming what is considered the toughest event of them all. Y'all are amazing.
200 Individual Medley: Watching Emily Kane, with a 2:16.60, finishing eight seconds ahead of the second-place swimmer, was like watching a stunning sunrise. We will never see an event just like this ever again! Emily hopes to come in first in the 2 IM at Friday's State Qualifiers, earning her a golden ticket to swim this event at the State championship. Could her success be attributed to the incredible efforts of the coaching staff? Magic eight ball says ... unlikely!
50 freestyle: Jaina Bischof finishes in sixth place with a personal best time of 28.10. This girl podiums! JB is the swimmer you want to keep on your team forever, she always delivers when we need her the most.
Jaeliana Chase took a full second off her best time and finished with a 28.90. This Milford machine 2.0 is a strong part of this team's future; I can't wait to see what happens next!
100 butterfly: Caitlin O'Sullivan returns to lane eight and places second in the 100 fly. How fast? 1:05.70, and that's six seconds faster than she was a month ago. Look, dropping time ain't easy. You gotta respect the effort, the no-breath, arm pulling, leg kicking miracle that is a 1:05 PR. This 100 fly was an extraordinary achievement.
100 freestyle: Pauline Kennedy, aka Polly, was amazing. A 1:04.66, dropping 1.73 seconds off her best time, a 32.34 in the first 50 and 32.32 in the second. My. Goodness.
Arya Patel took a full second off her previous best time and put a 1:07.58 on the scoreboard. To quote LMM, "Pride is not the word I'm looking for." We are all so happy for you and all you've achieved.
500 freestyle: Jaeliana Chase once said her goal was to swim this event in less than 6:30. Achieving that, she changed it to 6:20. Last night, she absolutely demolished her 6:18.86 personal best time and swam a 6:08.12. The fastest 50 split times were in the final 100 yards, where she swam a 1:08. It was a breathtaking performance!
200 freestyle: Arya Patel, Carleigh Williams, Tara Phillips and Jaeliana Chase swam this event in 2:09.62, beating their best time of 2:12.45. It was great to see a senior, a junior, a freshman and a seventh-grade student working hard and PRing!
Skyler Brandise, Lillian Wood, Anna Bravin and Regan Hartmann swam a 2:38.08, beating their best time of 2:46.97, almost a nine-second improvement. This relay team did a fantastic job; it was beautiful to have them swim when we needed them most.
100 backstroke: A third place finish for Jaina Bischof, a 1:09.96 and a new PR. We've been waiting for Jaina to go under 1:10 for four years and it has been fun watching her progress.
Arya Patel placed eighth, made it onto the podium with a PR of 1:17.24. The trip to Syracuse was worth it, just to see Arya swim this event. Everything else was "mid" in comparison. I hope I'm using that term correctly.
100 breaststroke: Emily Kane had previously qualified for states by swimming a 1:08.25, a time well below the "cut time" required to attend the tippy-toe top level of competitive swimming. On Wednesday, Emily swam a 1:08.94, her second fastest time ever, and took first place in the event.
Tara Phillips put up her best time in two years, a 1:27.52. The 100 breaststroke would not have been the same without Tara, nor will it be the same. We already miss you. Good luck in college and everything else!
400 freestyle relay: Second place finish from Caitlin, Jaina, Polly and Emily, a school record 4:03.15 and PR. Did they deserve first place? No. Did they have fun in the process? Yes!
Leah Phillips, Lillian Wood, Anna Bravin and Regan Hartmann did a wonderful job and swam this event in 6:12.48. These four are the heart of the team and will be swimming this event in nine months time. I can't wait!
That's the Section III Championship recap! Swimmers who place in the top 24 in their event, (across all schools, A, B and C classes), get to return to State Qualifiers on Friday.
We are proud to announce that the following students will be swimming once more: Emily Kane, Caitlin O'Sullivan, Jaina Bischof, Polly Kennedy, and mighty mouse Jaeliana Chase.
Many thanks to all the parents and friends who came out to support the team. It was awesome to have you in the stands. Thank you to the parents and families who cheered us on from home, thank you to everyone who made this one of the best seasons ever.
Special shout out to Janette O'Sullivan, who "found another gear" on this whole team, and to the manager-to-the-stars Creighton Williams. A million thank yous on behalf of everyone who still smells like chlorine.
Swimming coverage in 2024 is sponsored by the Mebust family. Cooperstown Sports News is sponsored for the entire 2024-25 school year by NYS&W Railway.
To sponsor coverage of a team, season or the school year, contact Greg at JYDBook@gmail.com.
