As the reigning Section III champions and holders of the George Falwell Cup, the West Genesee boys swim team knows that defending the title in 2011-12 will prove quite difficult, with the likes of Oswego, Auburn and Jamesville-DeWItt/CBA poised to make a run at the Wildcats.
So it was imperative that WG, now moving on without standout Ben Seketa (he’s now at Bucknell University), start the season strong – which it did, beating Fayetteville-Manlius 98-79 Wednesday night to earn its 31st consecutive meet win.
Ian Bushnell swept the sprints, as he swam the 50 freestyle in 23.60 seconds and also won the 100 freestyle in 52.54 seconds. He also helped Mike Mellen, Tyler Zapisek and Collin Zapisek post a winning time of 1:36.17 in the 200 freestyle relay.
In the 200 individual medley, Tyler Zapisek prevailed in 2:08.41, and Collin Zapisek followed up in the 500 freestyle with another victory in 5:18.15 after taking second (1:56.96) in the 200 freestyle.
Matt O’Donnell, who claimed second in the 200 IM in 2:11.96, would dominate the 100 backstroke, winning that event in 1:00.52 before Jake Mullett won the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.45.
Josh Byrne had an impressive performance on the diving board, earning 237.25 points to beat F-M’s Mike Beach (192.65 points), while Louis Ciarla, in 55.28 seconds, was second to Bushnell in the 100 freestyle.
This sets up a big early-season meet next Wednesday as WG takes on Oswego, who is led by Reeve Callen and Drake Becksted, two of the area’s top swimmers.
