OFA swimmers finish NAC season with victory

Having a meet decided on the final event of the season was nothing new for the OFA girls swimming team.

In fact it was a fitting way to end the season Friday when the Blue Devils' 400 freestyle relay won the final event of the day and carried OFA to a 62-59 victory over Massena. It was the Blue Devils' third win of the season and all three were decided by the final races. Another meet ended in a tie and another ended as one-point loss to Gouverneur.

"Close meets like this are very exciting for the girls and to get three wins and a tie was a very good season for a team so small in numbers. I made a little change to the lineup and we had a very good relay team for the final race," said OFA Coach Andee West.

Colbie O'Shea built a sizeable lead as the first swimmer of the relay and Chloe Frank, Jaylin Wannemacher and Jordyn Dobbs maintained the comfortable margin. Following the meet, Coach West expressed her pride in her team which took on the challenge of sustaining the program.

"This season has been one of the toughest beginnings I've ever faced, but in true swimmer fashion, we persevered. Our little family stuck it out together and faced every single obstacle head on! We had so many more wins than what's on a paper… the personal growth that I saw before my eyes daily was inspiring," she wrote. "I'm a proud coach. I'm a grateful coach. I'm a lucky coach. We ended the regular season on a win. We have many heading to Sectionals, they worked really really hard for this. We'll be back next year in the meantime we'll also be working hard in TRIBs."

Winning relay members contributed to the OFA victory. Dobbs and O'Shea swam on the winning 200 medley relay team with Vada Knapp and Emmy Lowry; Wannemacher led the 100 freestyle in 1:32.5; Lowry won the 200 individual medley relay in 2:48.76; Frank led the 100 freestyle in 2:40.59 and O'Shea took second in the 500 freestyle where Massena's Tori Cusworth took a pool record time of 5:41.61 and eased the previous record of 5:42,46 of OFA swimmer Terri Dranger set in 2004.

Cusworth also led the 100 breaststroke in 1:17.52 and swam on the winning 200 freestyle relay with Aaliyah Prashaw, Zoey Thomas and Millie St. Louis. Massena also earned first place points from Prashaw in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke and St. Louis in the 100 butterfly.

Vital seconds and thirds for OFA came from Wannemacher and Frank in the 50 freestyle, Emmy Lowry and Jordyn Dobbs in the 100 breaststroke, Vada Knapp in the 100 backstroke and the 200 IM, Jordyn Dobbs in the 100 butterfly and Madyson Thomas in the 100 freestyle.