By Mike Zummo
Nine is fine.
Lianna Williams had three first-place finishes, leading the Pine Bush Bushmen to their ninth straight Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I championship on Saturday at the Newburgh Free Academy Natatorium.
The Bushmen scored 562 points. The Valley Central Vikings finished second with 379 points.
Williams won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.05 and led both the 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relays to first place finishes.
She teamed with Norah Germano, Thea Valdez and Anna Hajek to win the medley relay in 1:55.76. The Bushmen’s team of Della Hundley, Lyla Humphrey, Jiolin Galvis Betancur and Dakota Wilson finished third in 2:01.75.
Williams, Wilson, Sophia Gallagher and Lila Hanson won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:45.39, while Hundley, Humphrey, Gwen Loennecker and Juliette Cassel finished fourth in 1:51.56. The Valley Central Vikings’ team of Nylah Reynoso, Samantha Messing, Emily Torn and Emmy White were second in 1:45.72.
White won the 100- and 200-yard freestyles with respective times of 55.89 and 2:00.90. Reynoso was third in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles with respective times of 26.35 seconds and 58.79 seconds.
Valley Central’s Kaedence Bresnick won the diving event with a New York State qualifying time of 449.65. Emily Nolan was second with a score of 292.45.
Gallagher was second in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:50.52 and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:05.94. She also teamed with Hajek, Hanson and Germano to win the 400-yard freestyle in 3:50.04. The Vikings’ team of Reynoso, Messing, Abigail Hoover and White took second in 3:54.76. Pine Bush’s team of Betancur, Valdez, Loennecker and Cassel took fourth in 4:10.45.
Germano was third in the 100-yard backstroke fand 200-yard freestyle with respective times of 1:04.31 and 2:03.83. Cassel was fourth in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:28.00 and fifth in the 100-yard freestyle in 59.21 seconds.
Wilson was fourth in the 50-yard freestyle in 26.48 seconds and sixth in the 100-yard freestyle. Humphrey was fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:13.10 and eight in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:37.40.
Hajek was sixth in the 50-yard freestyle in 26.83 seconds and seventh in the 100-yard freestyle in 26.83 seconds.
Hanson was fourth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 58.88 seconds.
Messing was fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:04.75 and fifth in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:05.65.
Betancur was sixth in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:08.49 and eighth in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:15.18. Loennecker was fifth in the 500-yrd freestyle in 6:04.49 and ninth in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:16.77. Valdez was sixth in the 200-yrd individual medley in 2:36.81 and 10th in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:11.18.
Valley Central’s Trinity Melendez finished sixth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:12.60.