Vestal and Union-Endicott traveled to Elmira Wednesday, looking for positive results in the Section IV girls swimming and diving preliminary rounds. 

Starting in the 200-yard medley relay, Vestal raced into fourth place behind its team of Maddie Bishop, Stella Tomancik, Margaret Wood and Yih Hui Lim with a 2:05.58 time. 

UE slotted into sixth with its team of Amelia Stank, Kelsey Jackson, Isabella Torres and Serenity Pearson earning a 2:14.14 time. 

Jay Ratterree impressed for the Golden Bears in the 200-yard freestyle with a third-place finish and a 2:05.23 time. Two more Vestal swimmers claimed spots in the A final with Mary Sonnen taking sixth place with a 2:12.95 time and Fran Vallone ending in seventh place with a 2:15.12 time. 

Bishop took fifth in the 200-yard IM with a 2:24.08 time, finishing one spot in front of Lim who tallied a 2:26.17 time. Both advanced to the A final. 

Reagan Young of Vestal earned third in the 50-yard freestyle with a 26.78 time, putting her in Saturday's final. 

In the 100-yard butterfly, Wood jockeyed with Devin Price of Corning for the final spot in the final, defeating the Hawks' swimmer's time of 1:13.33 with her time of 1:13.11.

Young secured her second spot in a finals race with her 59.33 time in the 100-yard freestyle. Sonnen and Tomancik duplicated that feat with finishes in sixth and seventh place for times of 1:00.85 and 1:01.64.

Ratterree and Vallone both qualified for the final in the 500-yard freestyle. Ratterree paced a time of 5:32.10 for third place while Vallone touted a 5:57.27 time in fifth place. 

The Golden Bears ended in fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay with Young, Sonnen, Vallone and Ratterree earning a 1:51.82 time. 

The Tigers clinched their second spot in a relay final with their team of Torres, Gabriela Murphy, Jackson and Chloe Basile taking a 1:58.64 time. 

Bishop earned another finals spot with her 1:03.94 time for third place in the 100-yard backstroke. Lim raced into fifth with a 1:06.23 time for the same honor. 

Jackson secured her spot in the final for the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:17.25 time for fifth place. Megan Jones of Vestal snatched the last spot in the final with a 1:19.98 time. 

The Tigers and the Golden Bears both sent teams to the 400-yard freestyle relay final. Vestal's team of Lim, Ratterree, Wood and Bishop finished fourth with a 4:03.58 time. UE's group of Audrey Strollo, Johnny Haskett, Ava Fliedner and Chloe Basile took fifth with a 4:39.65 time. 

The teams and swimmers who advanced from Wednesday's preliminary rounds will compete again on Saturday in the finals. 

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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES