SYRACUSE – In its most exciting meet of the season to date, the West Genesee boys swim team found itself trailing Cicero-North Syracuse most of the way as they battled Wednesday night at Nottingham High School.
When it counted at the end, though, the Wildcats won the last two events on the card and gained enough points to defeat the Northstars 94-91 to improve to 4-0 on the season.
WG’s late comeback began in the 100-yard breaststroke thanks to David Martin, who finished in one minute, 6.56 seconds to pull away from C-NS’s Reece Balduzzi (1:12.38) and Leo Alexander (1:12.46) and gain the most points.
Still, that only cut the Wildcats’ deficit to 87-84, and it still needed to win the closing 400 freestyle relay to pass the Northstars.
With strong legs from Gavin Flanagan, Sean Putnam and Ryan Goshow in the anchor spot, WG finished in 3:40.38, pulling away from C-NS’s 3:49.80 and, combined with a third-place finish, moved out in front at the end.
Another factor in the Wildcats’ win was its 1-2-3 sweep of the 500 freestyle. Flanagan dominated the race, winning in 5:09.63, but Having Matt Keiling take second (5:59.57) and Owen Kane third (6:01.43) gave WG more valuable points.
Otherwise, the Wildcats got by with earning more points in events like the 100 butterfly, where Brady Smith was second, Brady Lee third and Aiden Lounsbery fourth, all behind the 56.05 seconds from C-NS’s Caden Griffin.
Goshow twice had second-place finishes, going 58.80 seconds in the 100 backstroke to Jake Griffin’s 56.34 as Putnam was third in 1:04.87 and also a runner-up in the 100 freestyle, his 52.57 seconds inches behind the 52.51 from the Northstars’ Brandon Keil.
Putnam made it to second in the 200 freestyle in 2:01.44 behind Griffin’s 1:57.93. Flanagan was third and Seth Burlingame fourth in the 50 freestyle, with Burlingame adding a third in the diving event.
Quick at the outset of the meet, Goshow, Flanagan, Martin and Keiling went 1:47.49 in the 200 medley relay, but C-NS won in 1:44.65 to go with a first in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:37.77 ahead of WG’s 1:48.54.
Now situated at 4-0, the Wildcats challenge another unbeaten team, Baldwinsville, when the regular season resumes Jan. 4 at Baker High School.
