Morris won the same number of battles as Ottawa Tuesday but the Pirates won the war, defeating the Redskins 95-80 in a varsity girls swimming and diving meet.
The Redskins got first-place finishes in an equal number of events (6) to the Pirates, but wins in two of the three relay events — and claiming 10 of the 15 possible points in the penultimate event, the 100-meter breaststroke — made the difference for visiting Ottawa.
"That's one of those things, the way it falls," Andrew Porth, who debuted as Morris head coach, said of the result. "I'm tremendously proud of the effort of the girls. A number of them really stepped it up. ... After that first meet is where you can make some tweaks in your relays, after you see where everything falls."
Two Redskins were individual double winners. One, Britt Crawford, had times of 2:52.01 in the 200-meter individual medley and 1:17.56 in the 100-meter backstroke. The other, Myckala Tobolsky, finished the 200-meter freestyle in 2:36.28 and the 400-meter freestyle in 5:43.59.
Bree Pena, Morgan Abraham, Jadeah Spindler and Tobolsky combined for Morris' lone varsity relay win, in the 200-meter freestyle, with a time of 2:17.21. The other first-place Redskin was Mary Wolverton, whose diving score of 164.75 was uncontested.
For Crawford, the wins were just part of a busy opening night. She also teamed up with Alyssa Solis, Kelly Kolotka and Pena to take second with a time of 2:35.12 in the 200-meter medley relay, and with Kolotka, Abraham and Tobolsky for second in the 400-meter freestyle relay, with a time of 4:54.42.
"I'm most happy with the way I swam in the backstroke. I wasn't sure how I would do, and I'm pretty happy with the time I got," Crawford said. "I thought I would do better in the 400 free relay, but I ran out of energy towards the end."
Kolotka contributed a second-place time of 32.92 in the 50-meter freestyle to the Morris cause, even though it was her first time swimming the event at any level. Makenzi Claassen was also second in the 100-meter freestyle, with a time of 1:27.06, as was Molly Fruland in the 100-meter butterfly, which she finished in 1:32.99.
"Our new coach (Porth) has been pretty open about us trying new events. I took a shot at (the 50 free) in our mock meet and I qualified," Kolotka said. "I love sprint events. There is no holding back and pacing yourself. You can just give it your all."
JUNIOR VARSITY
Morris 91,
Ottawa 39
Sandra Segura, Courtney Torino, Hannah Cameron and Hannah Chellino won the 200 medley relay, with a time of 3:21.82, for the Redskins. Miranda Starks won both the 200 IM (1:39.66) and the 100 fly (49.35), and tied with Cameron for first place in the 100 breast (50.37). Other Morris winners were Segura in the 200 free (3:45.86) and the 100 back (47.95), Chellino in the 50 free (38.82) and Angel Dinelli in the 100 free (1:32.93).
