Though the Fayetteville-Manlius and Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA boys swim teams had difficulty keeping up with the top contenders during last weekend’s Section III championships at Nottingham, they still had moments of individual glory.
F-M’s Kevin Koh, in particular, would stick out as he tore to victory in the 100-yard butterfly. Koh finished the Class A final in a time of 51.13 seconds, setting the school record and beating J-D/CBA’s Cole Speidel, who was second in 52.53 seconds. Both qualified for the state meet.
Not stopping there, Speidel would go to the 200 freestyle and push Auburn star Lucas Zelehowsky, as Speidel finished second in 1:44.74 and Zelehowsky (1:43.13) prevailed. Koh, meanwhile, finished fourth in 1:47.17.
Their story would continue on Sunday in the overall sectional finals. Koh broke his own two-day school record in the 100 butterfly, improving to 51.09 seconds, and Speidel also improved, too, as he finished second in 52.46 seconds.
Already, Speidel had made some history in the 200 freestyle. Though he couldn’t quite keep up with Zelehowsky, Speidel, with his time of 1:43.58, broke a school record that had stood for 30 years.
Speidel, Cory Knapp, Garrett Farchione and Kevin Potocki finished third in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:18.80, but that time was good enough to reach the state meet, set for March 2-3 at Buffalo’s Erie Community College.
That same J-D/CBA quartet took fourth in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:30.72, missing state qualification by less than a second, while Farchione charged to fifth place in the 100 freestyle in 50.41 seconds.
Elsewhere, the Hornets were fourth in the 200 medley relay in 1:43.78. Will Twichell took sixth in the 50 freestyle in 22.94 seconds, while Matt Beach was fifth (345.85 points) in diving.
Knapp claimed fifth place in the 500 freestyle in 4:59.89, edging out F-M’s Zach Swanson, who was sixth in 5:03.56 on the Class A side. In the 200 medley relay, Koh, Twichell, Luke Oliverio and Chris Rettinger were fifth in 1:44.65 as Swanson, Koh, Twichell and Oliverio got sixth (3:25.61) in the 400 freestyle relay.
