ESG - Synchronized Swimming
Wakelam's grand slam leads Western
by MATT KRUEGER Reporter

Tonawanda's Laurie Wakelam, left, had the golden touch at the Empire State Games this past weekend, as she won the figures, solo, trio and team competitions in synchronized swimming. Photo by Jason Nadolinski Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Laurie Wakelam picked right up where her former teammate left off this past weekend and turned in a performance King Midas would envy.

Wakelam, a 2007 Kenmore West High School graduate, won the solo, figures and trio competitions and led the Western Region to its amazing 30th straight victory in the team competition to go four for four. She equaled the mark of former teammate Katlyn Gedeon, who won four golds in each of the previous two ESGs.

"It's exciting. I'm glad that this is my last time competing with these girls," Wakelam said right after Western demolished the other five regions in the team competition Sunday. "It's nice to say that I went home with four gold medals."

Wakelam began her tour de force with her victory in the figures competition Thursday. Her score of 73.811 topped the list, as Western took the top eight positions. Tonawanda's Trisha Melber (72.343) won the silver, while Orchard Park's Jessica Grogan (71.886) took bronze.

Friday, Wakelam posted the only score over 80 with her mark of 80.740 in the solo competition. She edged out Grogan (79.777) and Tonawanda's Cassandra Grizanti (77.161). Wakelam added her trio gold Friday when she teamed with Melber and Grogan to score 80.424.

Leading the team to an easy victory Sunday with a score of 81.332, Wakelam earned her fourth gold to tie Gedeon, who was one of Wakelam's trio partners last year.

"It's nice to keep the tradition going," Wakelam said. "And I'm sure someone will do it next year, too."

Western's dominance in the team competition reached the three-decade mark thanks to a futuristic routine that featured purple, blue, green and gold suits that looked like psychedelic coral and dance club music. But the only rave going on was in the judges' scores. Western bested second-place Central by 10 1/2 points.

Of course, Western held the advantage, in that it entirely comprises members of the Tonawanda Aquettes and has performed that same routine 10 times this year. The other regions only got together and started from scratch four weeks before the Games.

Still, Western was clearly the team with the most talent.

"It's just gotten better with each swim," Western coach Jill Wright said of the team routine. "So I think this was one of their best swims. The lifts were really good and they were very synchronized. It was really well done."

Western swept the competition for the second year in a row, by taking gold, silver and bronze in all figures, solo, duet and trio.

Melber teamed with Kenmore's Jessica Bagley to win the duet competition with a 79.217, while Tonawanda's Lauren Spatzer and Rina Hanna-Gregoretti took silver (77.361), and Grizanti and West Seneca's Meaghan O'Shei grabbed bronze (77.290). Spatzer, Hanna-Gregoretti and Bagley took second in trio (77.772), while O'Shei, East Aurora's Katie Gillies and Tonawanda's Alyssa Baumgartner (77.759) finished third.

"That's what we strive for every year, to keep the winning streak going and the Western tradition alive," Wright said. "We just try to do our best in each event. We were just really lucky to pull it off again."

e-mail: mkrueger@beenews.com