Even if the stars shine elsewhere, the Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA boys swim team still finds itself securely atop the Onondaga High School League.
The Red Rams clinched another OHSL regular-season championship Thursday night and ran its win streak to 40 consecutive meets by topping the Mexico Tigers 99-84.
Mexico would actually win most of the races, thanks to the efforts of elite swimmers like Shawn Parkhurst and Mike Vogelsang. But J-D/CBA’s depth in those same races would help build a winning margin. Every time a Mexico swimmer finished first, numerous Rams were behind him.
This first surfaced in the 200 medley relay, where the Red Rams had quartets that finished second and third. Jack Fletcher, Tyghe Speidel, Dan Farchione and Bryan Daley finished in 1:47.57, just behind the Tigers, who won in 1:47.01.
Even as Parkhurst was winning the 200 freestyle (1:49.10), Eric Jorgenson and Ryan Smith occupied the next two positions. The same thing happened in the 100 freestyle as Scott Thieke (52.58 seconds) and Daley (54.93 seconds) trailed Parkhurst (49.65 seconds).
The same thing happened in Vogelsang’s events. As Vogelsang conquered the 50 freestyle (23.85 seconds), Jack Fletcher (24.08 seconds) and Daley (24.16 seconds) were second and third, respectively. In the 100 butterfly, Dan Farchione (1:01.11) and Garrett Farchione (1:02.62) followed Vogelsang (56.82 seconds) to the line.
And in the 100 backstroke, won by Mexico’s Joe Raymond in 59.75 seconds, Fletcher returned to claim second place, in 1:00.34, while Garrett Farchione (1:01.89) finished third.
Speidel would win his share of events, too. In the 200 individual medley, Speidel, in a time of 2:07.99, beat Mexico’s Mike Hartwell (2:11.66) by more than three seconds, with Russ Farchione (2:15.48) in third place to soak up more points.
In the 100 breaststroke, Speidel was even more dominant, using a time of 1:05.54 to beat the Tigers’ Rich DeLong by more than six seconds, as Russ Farchione (1:13.01) in third. Daley, Jorgenson, Scott Thieke and James Wanamaker combined to help the Rams win the 4×200 relay in 1:37.14.
The diving competition also proved to be exciting. J-D/CBA’s James Luttinger and Mexico’s Josh Lucas battled to the last round, with Luttinger needing 244 points to prevail as Lucas (239 points) finished right behind him.
To close it out, Jorgenson, Fletcher, Speidel and Thieke combined for a time of 3:35.08 in the 400 freestyle relay, taking second as Vogelsang, Parkhurst, Raymond and Mike Hartwell won in 3:31.75.
J-D/CBA looks to make it 41 meets in a row Tuesday against Liverpool, the last team to beat the Red Rams four seasons ago.
