Even before 2019 ended, Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA standout Lucas Dekaney made sure that, come March of 2020, he would get a chance to compete for a state championship on the diving board.
Dekaney was victorious amid a strong field at last Saturday’s Shenendehowa Holiday Invitational, one of the first large-scale meets of the winter.
In his dives, Dekaney amassed a single-meet school record of 551.40 points. That put him well clear of the 450-point standard needed to qualify for the March 6-7 New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships that will take place at Long Island’s Nassau County Aquatic Center.
Just as important, Dekaney won by a healthy margin over Pittsford’s Daley Fraser, who was second with 522.95 points. So good was the field that the top eight finishers all earned state meet-qualifying scores.
J-D/CBA did not send its swimmers to this meet, having competed eariler in the week and defeated Cicero-North Syracuse 95-88 to improve to 2-1 on the season.
Dekaney won that diving competition, earning 288.40 points. Bobby Diel beat the field in the 200 individual medley in 2:17.64 and added a second title in the 100 butterfly, going 59.77 seconds to edge the Northstars’ John Harbaugh (59.82) by five-hundredths of a second.
Elsewhere, Nate Wales went 5:29.83 in the 500 freestyle over Luke Marino’s 5:52.44 after he had finished second (1:56.77), just behind C-NS’s Logan Petralia (1:56.44), in the 200 freestyle.
Nathan Chen, third in the 100 butterfly, triumphed in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.68 and, paired with Wales, Conlan Rourke and Peter Hatton, won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:36.50.
On his own, Rourke earned second place in the 50 freestyle (23.56 seconds) and 100 freestyle (51.72 seconds), each time with C-NS’s Seaver Schultz finishing in front. Wales, Diel, Hatton and Ryan Brazell swam the 400 freestyle relay in 3:45.96, just behind the Northstars’ 3:44.19.
Fayetteville-Manlius had two meets last week, starting last Tuesday when it ended up in a rare 93-93 tie with West Genesee.
The Hornets did not win a race until the 100 butterfly, when Lucas Wieres sped to first place in 57.04 seconds. Right after, Eric Bang, in 54.84 seconds, held off teammate Ben Rabin (55.64) to win the 100 freestyle.
Other than that, F-M’s lone title came in the 400 freestyle relay, F-M salvaging the tie when Bang, Wieres, Quinn Smith and Jason Porter went 3:40.10 to pull clear of WG’s second-place 3:51.94.
Smith had, in 1:58.11, finished inches behind the Wildcats’ Alex Shuron (1:58.02) in the 200 freestyle and was second in the 500 freestyle in 5:17.21.
Wieres took second in the 50 freestyle in 24.08 seconds to the 23.97 from WG’s Keegan Schauron, with Porter second in the 200 IM in 2:17.27.
Connor Gleasman, earning 210.20 points in diving, got second place behind the Wildcats’ Justin Byrne (233.85). Richard Wan got second in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.36 as Michael Magee was second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.31.
Then, on Friday, F-M beat Pulaski/Sandy Creek 90-80. This meet started with Wan, Bang, Magee and Lucas Wieres going 2:02.14 to get first place in the 200-yard medley relay.
Lucas Wieres went from there to taking the 200 individual medley in 2:15.51 and going 1:02.58 in the 100 backstroke as Jason Wieres got first place in diving with 160.20 points.
Porter won twice, going 2:00.93 in the 200 freestyle and 5:38.36 to beat the field in the 500 freestyle. Smith swam the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.10 and won the 100 butterfly in 1:01.08.
Eddie Elliott went 26.59 seconds to win the 50 freestyle, Cooper Hughes beating the field in the 100 freestyle in 57.45 seconds as Bang, Magee, Carter Page and Sam Denton swam the 200 freestyle relay in 1:52.97.
