Photo by Debbra Bailey Pictured above is Fredonia’s Tori Spacciapolli swimming during the 200 yard medley relay on Friday’s sectional and state qualifying meet at Alumni Arena at the University of Buffalo.

AMHERST — The Section VI state qualifier and sectional finals were held for girls swimming and diving last Thursday and Friday, and while none of the Fredonia girls qualified for the state meet, a lot of swimmers performed well for the Lady Hillbillies.

Thursday at Maryvale High School, the diving competitions took place, and featuring the Hillbillies were sisters Alexandra and Isabella Pucci-Schaefer. With Classes A, B, and C all combined, Alexandra finished 14th overall while Isabella finished 20th. Alexandra, a sophomore, has only grazed the surface as a diver, and the next two seasons will be a testament to how good she can be. For Isabella, a senior, her career ends alongside her sister in the pool.

On Friday, the swimming portion of the meet got underway at the University of Buffalo’s Alumni Arena in Amherst.

The relay teams were all pushing to beat their best times to qualify for the state meet. The closest team to that time was the 200 yard medley relay comprised of seniors Mackenzie Quinn and Grace Mroczka, junior Jenna Sherlock and freshman Victoria Spacciapolli. Finishing at 1:58.02, the team missed the state qualifying meet by about six seconds.

Also in the 200 freestyle relay, Lillee Gould (of Forestville), Mroczka, Spacciapolli and Quinn finished in 17th place while the 400 freestyle relay of Gould, Sherlock, Jane Fortna and Julia Fortna finished in 22nd place.

Individually, the Lady Hillbillies had another couple of girls do well, narrowly missing state qualifying times. Spacciapolli came into the race needing to shave just two seconds off of her 100 breaststroke to qualify for the state meet, but again she finished two seconds shy in 8th place, narrowly missing the trip to states as a freshman. Spacciapolli also finished in 6th place in the 200 individual medley.

Quinn ended her season by finishing 27th in the 100 butterfly and 15th in the 100 backstroke while fellow senior Mroczka finished 20th in the 100 backstroke. Sherlock placed 12th in the 200 individual medley and 31st in the 100 butterfly. Gould finished the 100 freestyle in 27th place.

The Hillbillies finished the CCAA 1 division in third place with an 8-4 record this season and will return a lot of key swimmers to next seasons team.