New Lebanon Swimmers Edge Wahconah

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The New Lebanon swim team Wednesday got a 1-2 finish in the final event of the day to secure a 91-77 win over Wahconah at the Berkshire Family YMCA.

 

Alex Sotek, Liam Buckenroth, Allison Slater and Lance Schroder won the 400-meter relay in 4 minutes, 40.22 seconds.

 

They then were followed by teammates Riley Schwartz, Gabe Kalisz, Cadence Ward and George Lamphere-Webster in second place to give the Tigers 12 points to build on a four-point margin New Lebanon held after the penultimate 100 breaststroke.

 

“It got dicey after the breaststroke,” New Lebanon-Berlin coach Tim Christiansen said. “Wahconah went 1-2-3. But I knew our 'A' relay for that 400 relay is super solid. They're going to be one of the top three relays in the league at Individuals. I knew we had that ace in the hole for us, which was huge.”

 

Sotek and Schwartz led the way for New Lebanon in the co-ed meet.

 

Sotek turned in dominating performances in the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly. Schwartz won the 50 free and 100 backstroke.

 

“Riley Schwartz -- I moved him into some other races today, and he had an awesome, awesome meet,” Christiansen said. “He's going to now bump into other races because his breaststroke today was really strong in the medley relay. And his backstroke has been stepping up, too.”

 

Christiansen also was impressed with the performance from Kalisz, who helped the Tigers earn points in three relays in just his third meet. He teamed with Lamphere-Webster, Jordan Sotek and Schroder to win the 200 free relay.

 

Wahconah coach Stephen Kolis also saw promising performances from his team’s newcomers.

 

“Our younger swimmers did quite well today,” Kolis said. “Logan [Kunde] and Riley [Gladu] did really well. Everybody swam their hearts out, but they had a little too much for us. What are you going to do?”

 

Kunde placed third in the 500. Gladu was part of that breaststroke sweep and swam on a winning medley relay quartet.

 

Wahconah, which was missing two captains due to illness and injury, picked up one other first-place finish, from Ella Reardon in that 1-2-3 breaststroke.

 

The sweep allowed Wahconah to eat up most of a 14-point deficit going to the finale in one of the Berkshire County League’s more competitive rivalries.

 

“We beat them at our place last year, and then when we came here, with the six lanes, it's hard for us to compete with them because they have bodies for every race,” Christiansen said of Wahconah. “And I don't have the well-rounded swimmers that Steve [Kolis] has here.

 

“So being able to go 1-2 in some of the races was huge for us today. I think it was the 50 free [Schwartz and Buckenroth], and the 100 free [Schroder and Slater] -- having those 1-2 races was huge.”

 

Photos from this meet here.

 

New Lebanon 91, Wahconah 77

Medley relay: 1. Wahconah (Wellington, Gladu, Looney, Aldrich) 2:31.05; 2. New Lebanon, 2:32.37; 3. New Lebanon, 2:37.38.

200 freestyle: 1. Lance Schroder, NL, 2:32.78; 2. Allison Slater, NL, 2:33.54; 3. Sarah Curti, W, 2:56.24.

200 individual medley: 1. Alex Sotek, NL, 2:37.44; 2. Ella Reardon, W, 3:08.75; 3. Liam Looney, W, 3:15.08.

50 freestyle: 1. Riley Schwartz, NL, 31.54; 2. Liam Buckenroth, NL, 31.97; 3. Aden Aldrich, W, 33.76.

100 butterfly: 1. A. Sotek, NL, 1:13.20; 2. Elizabeth Wheeler, W, 1:38.17; 3. Artois Sancho, W, 1:40.94.

100 freestyle: 1. Schroder, NL, 1:07.22; 2. Slater, NL, 1:10.48; 3. Looney, W, 1:15.09.

500 freestyle: 1. Buckenroth, NL, 5:45.02; 2. Curti, W, 6:11.58; 3. Logan Kunde, 6:49.41.

200 free relay: 1. New Lebanon (Lamphere-Webster, Kalisz, J. Sotek, Schroder) 2:12.94; 2. Wahconah, 2:16.33; 3. New Lebanon, 2:43.14.

100 backstroke: 1. Schwartz, NL, 1:24.72; 2. Elizabeth Wheeler, W, 1:32.78; 3. Cadence Ward, NL, 1:34.24.

100 breaststroke: 1. Reardon, W, 1:36.47; 2. Gladu, W, 1:36.81; 3. Sancho, W, 1:40.18.

400 free relay: 1. New Lebanon (A. Sotek, Buckenroth, Slater, Schroder) 4:40.22; 2. New Lebanon, 5:22.04; 3. Wahconah, 5:27.16.