OSWEGO – At least to this point in the 2023-24 season, spending an entire campaign on the road has not bothered the West Genesee boys swim team one bit.
The Wildcats, who already had wins at Auburn and Weedsport in the books, made it three in a row last Tuesday by going to Oswego and leaned heavily on its depth to defeat the Buccaneers 97-83.
Of the 12 events contested, Oswego won eight of them, but WG had nine second-place finishes to the Bucs’ two to make up all that ground and also finished third six times.
In the opening 200-yard medley relay, the Wildcats’ quartet of Ryan Goshow, David Martin, Sean Putnam and Gavin Flanagan finished in one minute, 49.40 seconds, just beating out Oswego’s 1:50.16.
Minutes later, Putnam (2:06.49) and Matt Keiling (2:09.48) went 1-2 in the 200 freestyle, and it would prove the same in the 500 freestyle, Putnam getting second in 5:51.86 to Flanagan’s winning 5:22.67.
Goshow would prevail in the 100 backstroke in 59.30 seconds, also taking second 24.75) to the Bucs’ Shane Bond (23.64) in the 50 freestyle as Flanagan went 2:24.77 for second in the 200 individual medley ahead of Brady Smith (2:34.29) in third place.
Keiling, in the 100 butterfly, went 1:06.32 for second place as Brady Lee was third and Ian Grosser fourth. Martin finished second in the 100 freestyle in 55.56 seconds and got a runner-up finish in the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.23.
Seth Burlingame claimed second place in diving with 159.05 points as, in the 200 freestyle relay, Keiling, Flanagan, Lee and Mason Reichert posted 1:44.48, close to Oswego’s 1:43.75. Keiling, Martin, Putnam and Goshow were second (3:53.02) to the Bucs (3:47.99) in the 400 freestyle relay.
Skaneateles had Gavin Van Kersbergen compete with Weedsport last Tuesday against Geneva, with Van Kersbergen victorious in the 200 freestyle in 1:50.70 to beat Liam Byrons’ 1:59.68. Byrons also was second in the 100 backstroke as fellow Lakers swimmer Jacob Gordon took third in the 100 breaststroke.
