Headed to sectional swim finals

It’s kind of a dreary day outside, so you might as well spend the afternoon indoors. If you are a swim fan, though, make your way to Valley Central High School in Montgomery for the finals of the Section 9 championships. The meet begins at 3:30 p.m.

The swim preliminaries were held Friday, so the finals will consist of just two heats (a consolation and a championship) in each event.

Here’s a sneak peek at today’s action, and our movers-and-shakers:

200-yard medley relay: Valley Central owns the top time of 1:52.18. Joining VC and Newburgh as state qualifiers (by meeting a state standard) on Friday were Roosevelt, Cornwall and Warwick.

200 freestyle: Newburgh seventh-grader Brittany Friese chopped almost 3 seconds off her seed time Friday and has the best section effort at 1:53.45. Kingston senior Kayla Tegeler joined Colleen Larkin and Christine Shepherd (both Washingtonville) as state qualifiers. Rebecca Maisonet of Cornwall chopped almost 6.5 seconds off her time, reaching finals from her 12th seed.

200 IM: Roosevelt’s Brenna O’Keefe shaved 4.5 seconds off her time, topping prelims with a 2:12.51 and joining state quals Hillary Hocson of NFA (2:11.84 seed) and Lanae Petty of VC (2:13.61 seed). Warwick’s Jean Marie Murphy made big jump from 15th seed to eighth, taking almost 6 seconds off her best time.

50 freestyle: Cornwall junior Brienne Ryan assured herself of All-America status with her 23.84 in prelims. Pine Bush’s Rosalie Virgilio improved to 24.13, putting herself in All-America consideration. Danielle Schmalz of Pine Bush, Kristen Meier of VC, Cailin Grunewald of NFA and Jenna Marrione of Warwick are within a half-second of state qualifying.

1-meter diving: The VC trio of Meghan Coyne, OCIAA champ Kristen Meier and Ally Borriello are 1-2-3 after semifinals. Three dives remain today.

100 butterfly: Tegeler edged ahead of Petty, 59.73 to 59.75, for the section’s best time. O’Keefe joined them as state qualifiers on Friday, posting a 1:00.25. Schmalz is one second away. The top eight seeds all advanced to finals. Roosevelt freshman Caitlin Stanton shaved almost five seconds off, jumping from 26th seed to 12th in consi finals.

100 freestyle: Friese and Virgilio each took a second off their best times, remaining 1-2. Roosevelt’s Olivia Baczek joined the pair as state qualifiers on Friday, going 54.26. Lauren Baker of Monroe-Woodbury and Maisonet are within a second of states. Warwick junior Alysha Hedding cut 1.66 seconds off, moving from 13th seed to eighth in finals. Warwick’s Julia Osborne jumped from 26th seed to 15th in consi finals. Cristina Dutra of Washingtonville went from 21st seed to 14th in consi finals.

500 freestyle: Warwick’s Ellen Parodi improved by 3.5 seconds to 5:16.67 on Friday, taking the No. 2 seed and making states with previous qualifier Colleen Larkin of Washingtonville, the top seed at 5:08.73. Newburgh seventh-grader Emily Hovey improved by more than 8 seconds, moving from 15th seed to eighth in finals. Mary Lynn McMahon of Monroe-Woodbury jumped from 18th seed to ninth in consi finals.

200 freestyle relay: Valley Central became first state qualifier, improving its top seed time to 1:40.89. The top eight seeds all advanced to finals.

100 backstroke: Ryan earned All-America consideration with her top time of 58.02. Joining her as a state qualifier on Friday were Schuyler at 1:01.78 and Roosevelt’s Shea Berg at 1:01.92. Shepherd is less than two-tenths away from states. Osborne made biggest leap from 20th seed to 14th in consi finals, taking 2.6 seconds off her time.

100 breaststroke: Hocson and Washingtonville’s Morganne Klein came in with state qualifying spots. Joining them on Friday were Roosevelt’s Corrin Sternberg at 1:08.93, improving by 3 seconds, and Murphy at 1:19.12. Lauren Daly of Pine Bush went from 21st seed to 16th in consi finals.

400 freestyle relay: Newburgh cut three seconds off, earning the No. 1 seed with a state-qualifying time of 3:41.91. No one else is within three seconds.