A long holiday break, spanning more than two weeks, was a welcome sight for the West Genesee boys swim team following a busy December where it went 4-1, preparing itself for its return on Jan. 5 and a showdown with CNY Counties League front-runner Liverpool.
In the Wildcats’ last match before the break Friday night, it hosted Fulton, and with the trio of Mike Gilheney, Sean Hagadorn and Matt O’Donnell each winning a pair of races, WG earned a 100-84 victory over the Red Raiders.
Gilheney prevailed in the longest races, going five minutes, 48.43 seconds to turn back Fulton’s Breanna Stoutenger (5:53.47) in the 500-yard freestyle after going 2:04 flat in the 200 freestyle, where the Red Raiders’ Andrew Distin (2:05.99) was close behind.
Hagadorn, in the 50 freestyle, prevailed, 23.99 seconds to teammate Nate Gdula’s 24.33 seconds, followed by a 100 breaststroke where Hagadorn, in 1:06.67, prevailed and John Barrett (1:10.81) claimed second place.
As for O’Donnell, he posted 2:17.16 in the 200 individual medley, pulling away from Fulton’s Sage Hourihan (2:26.70) and the field, and then went 57.62 seconds in the 100 butterfly as the Red Raiders’ Justin Grower (1:01.84) was runner-up.
There was also a terrific diving competition, where WG’s Peter Bowman and Fulton’s Lorcan Murphy were close right to the final dive. Bowman ended up with 217.90 points, barely in front at the end, while Murphy got 216.85 points.
Gdula did win in the 100 freestyle, going 54.90 seconds to hold off Fulton’s David Talients (55.65 seconds), while Coiln Riley was second (1:10.12) to Grower (1:06.98) in the 100 backstroke.
Three days earlier, Gilheney and Hagadorn were at the forefront for the Wildcats as it improved to 3-0 in CNY Counties League competition lby defeating Cicero-North Syracuse 95-82 at the Northstars’ home pool at Le Moyne College.
Gilheney got going when he won the 200 freestyle in 2:03.91, holding off Gdula (2:05.73) for first place. Then, in the 500 freestyle, Gilheney pulled far away from the competition, prevailing in 5:56.62.
O’Donnell had to wait until the 100 butterfly to get his first individual title, prevailing there in 57.79 seconds, and then moved on to the 100 backstroke, where in 1:01.88 he pulled away from C-NS’s Owen Flaherty (1:09.63) for an easy win.
Before all this, O’Donnell worked with Hagadorn, Evan Tuthill and Brian Salmons as WG won the meet-opening 200 medley relay in 1:55.24. Hagadorn, on his own, would seize first place in the 50 freestyle in 24.41 seconds, with Scott Amedro (25.42 seconds) in the runner-up spot.
Gdula, swimming the 100 freestyle in 55.83 seconds, prevailed over Tuthill, who was second in 57.31 seconds. Bowman scored 200.05 points on the diving board, beating out teammate Cody Collins, who had 181.75 points. Riley, swimming the 200 IM in 2:28.45, was second to C-NS’s Nate Ancona, who won in 2:25.94.
