Lady Tigers finish 10th at sectionals

Kaelyn Sullivan, far left, Michelle Niblock, Eva Lankes, Ellie Poleon finished fifth in the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay and seventh in the 400 free relay at last weekend's Section VI Championships at Erie Community College's Burt Flickinger Center.

The Amherst varsity girls swim team finished its season in fine fashion at the Section VI Championships last weekend at Erie Community College's Burt Flickinger Center.

Amherst sent four swimmers and one diver, and despite the small number, finished in an impressive 10th place out of nearly 50 teams from all over Western New York.

Sarah Masters competed in diving at Fredonia State on Wednesday and finished sixth. She had already qualified for the New York State Championships held in Long Island this weekend.

"I am very excited to be representing Section VI and Amherst High School," said Masters. She was undefeated in dual meet competition since seventh grade and narrowly missed the state cut the past two seasons.

The Lady Tigers swimmers also placed well at sectionals. The 200 medley relay team of Eva Lankes, Kaelyn Sullivan, Michelle Niblock, and Ellie Poleon finished fifth, while the same four teamed up for a fifth place finish in the 200 free relay.

"We knew all season long that our relays were strong," said coach Kim Skomra.

"It was a surprise to many to see all three of our relays in the finals, but it wasn't to us. We knew what our girls could do, and we proved it on the big stage," added coach Debbie Sullivan.

"We decided to swim three relays because the girls were confident that they could make the finals," said Skomra.

That choice paid off, as the 400 free relay finished seventh.

"We don't have any year round swimmers on our team, so these girls come in and have 12 weeks to get ready for sectionals," said Sullivan. "You can see that their hard work really paid off."

Lockport was the only other school to send all three relays to the finals.

Individually for Amherst, Michelle Niblock won the bonus heat of the 100 fly to place 17th, while Eva Lankes finished 24th in the 50 free.