ITHACA – No Section III athlete going to Ithaca College for last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association boys swimming and diving championships had a better chance at a medal than Nick Pompo.
As a two-time sectional champion, Pompo brought vast experience to the state meet along with a best score of 576.15 points during the season which put him fourth among qualifiers.
Those kind of scores could not be equaled, but Pompo easily made it through the early rounds and advanced to the finals, where he finished with a total of 516.80 points.
It turned out that Pompo’s best score of the season was better than the winning total at the state meet put up by Suffern’s Luke Leale, who prevailed with 570.40 points over the 550.95 of Jericho’s Tristan Yang.
Pompo finished best among the four sectional divers who reached the finals. Cicero-North Syracuse’s Carter Canastra just missed the top 10, taking 11th place with 442.90 points just ahead of Northstars teammate Nate Ornoski in 13th place with 438.00 points. Another J-D/CBA diver, Cameron Corona, earned 431.1 points for 16th place.
B’ville also had a swimmer at the state meet when Alex Nicita competed in the 200-yard freestyle. Having gone one minute 47.39 seconds during the season, Nicita could not match that time here, his 1:49.28 putting him in 44th place.
