Girls Swimming
Diver Matthews on top of state again
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville North's Casey Matthews practices a dive prior to competition on Friday at the New York State Championships held at Erie Community College's Burt Flickinger Center. Matthews won her second 1-meter state title in three years on Saturday. Photo by John Normile

For the second time in three years, Casey Matthews is the queen of New York State diving.

Matthews, a state champion in 2004 and runner-up in 2005, defeated last year's champion, Section IX's Kristen Meier, 515.40-505.10, to win this year's 1-meter title at Saturday's New York State Swimming and Diving finals at Erie Community College's Burt Flickinger Center.

"It feels pretty good," Matthews said. "I was excited, especially because I lost last year by ten points."

Matthews said Meier won last year because her dive degree difficulty was higher so for this season, Matthews learned several new dives, including an inward double tuck, which scored her 64 points on her second dive on Saturday. It also gave her a 15-point lead and basically assured her of the title.

"Before that dive, I knew I had to hit it," she said. "As soon as I came up and listened to my scores, I knew I did."

Sweet Home's Paige Gutowski finished 23rd in the 200 IM at Saturday's finals. The above picture was taken during preliminaries on Friday. Photo by John Normile

"Both dove well on their final three dives but Casey's higher dive difficulty is what sealed the deal," added North coach Doug Cassidy.

Matthews was ahead by 65 points after her last dive, a back 11/2 somersault with a full twist; Meier only scored 55 points.

Matthews led by eight after her first eight dives on Friday, including

62 points from an inward 11/2 pike. She was the only Section VI

diver to win a state title.

"She won it as a freshman but when she just missed last year, she realized how important the high school title was," said Cassidy. "She worked hard on her 1-meter high school diving list to be prepared for this year's championship and it certainly paid off."

"This year I saw a real seriousness and focus," he added. "She was loose but very determined on what she needed to do to be successful."

Cassidy said Matthews is already setting goals for her senior year.

"She's looking at more difficult dives for next season," he said. "I know it's going to be a priority for her as a senior to finish out on top. We'll do whatever we can at North to support her."

Williamsville East also performed well, finishing 11th overall.

The Lady Flames' 200 medley relay of freshman Bailey Woodling, sophomore Kristen Ostanski, junior Janelle Munroe and senior Jennifer Anthone won the consolation final with a ninth place finish of 1:53.05. The quartet set a school record at sectionals a week earlier.

"If we swam a little better in the trials we might have been able to get in the finals and that 1:53 would have taken sixth place," said East coach Mike Doerfler.

The 400 free relay of Woodling, Tori Mayer, Munroe and Anthone placed eighth in a school record 340.23.

"That relay's time never stopped going down," Doerfler said. "At ECICs, we went 342.65. At sectionals, we went 341.36 and in the finals, 340.51. At states, we went 340.43 and 340.23. We didn't make huge drops but we kept getting faster each time which is what we wanted to do."

Anthone finished 12th in the 100 free (53.66) and 14th in the 50 free (24.69) to close out her high school career.

"She had a very good state meet," said Doerfler. "It was a good way to finish off. Both times are a tenth away from her best times ever."

In the 100 butterfly, Munroe won the bonus heat with a 17th place finish of 59.45. Woodling swam under a minute for the first time in the event in 59.87, good enough for 19th place.

Munroe finished 29th in the 100 backstroke during Friday's pre- lims. Only the top 24 qualified for Saturday.

Doefler said he and assistant Chris Miller were thrilled with the team's performance.

"It was just a great season," he said. "The girls just deserve a great deal of credit. They far surpassed our goals for the year."

Sweet Home's Paige Gutowski finished 23rd in the 200 IM in 2:16.39. Bethany Fried was 29th in the 500 free in 5:17.29 on Friday and did not qualify for Saturday.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com