Girls Swimming Freestyles Through States

Abby Palin and Lucy Falso

Staff Writers

Four talented Jamesville-DeWitt High School girls endeavored to make their school proud when qualifying for the state meet at sectionals.  

On Nov. 18, freshman Amelia Hesler, sophomore Emma Galletta, junior Lexi Phillips and senior Marissia Potamianos headed to Ithaca College to compete in the 200 and 400 meter relay in the state competition.  In addition, Hesler and Phillips qualified for states in individual events. Phillips swam a 100 meter freestyle and Hesler competed in the 200 and 500 meter freestyle at states.

In both of their relays, they placed in the top 30 and were invited to come back the next day to swim in the finals, along with Hesler for her individual 200 and 500 meter freestyle.  At the finals, the girls were excited to earn 14th place in the state for their relay races.

Hesler made it to states as an eighth grader, and was thrilled to return again for the second year in a row.  “The relays were really awesome,” said Hesler, “My expectations were blown away [at states].”

It was Galletta’s first time going to the state championship and she was glad that she dropped times in both legs of the relays during states.  “I thought I was going to be really nervous and stressed,” said Galletta, “but overall, it was such a fun experience and it was awesome seeing all these super talented girls.”  To deal with the nerves, she tried to tune everything out, while listening to Beyonce.  

As for Phillips, this was her third year in a row making it to the state competition.  Next year, she hopes to make it back to states for her last swimming season in high school. She competed in the 100 meter freestyle, along with two relays and raced well. Despite her worries, she was excited for her relay team to swim one last race together.

Potamianos was feeling sentimental during her last swim states meet after three consecutive years of qualifying. “Honestly, I didn’t know how I was going to do with all the emotions,” said Potamianos.  She was proud that all of their hard work and dedication paid off and was glad to have her competitive swimming career end well.  

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