Like so many other times in recent years, the Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA boys swim team could not match the individual talents of West Genesee in last Tuesday’s early-season showdown.
What mattered most, though, was that the Red Rams had more depth, and it translated to a 102-83 victory over the Wildcats, the first time anyone has beaten WG since the 2007-08 season.
J-D/CBA piled up high finishes – a lot of seconds, a lot of thirds – as WG won each of the first four races. Then Matt Wanamaker gave the Red Rams a boost, leading a diving sweep as he accumulated 206.7 points.
Cole Speidel quickly followed with a swift 100 butterfly time of 54.74 seconds, with Kevin Potacki earned first place in the 100 freestyle in 54.08 seconds.
Speidel and Potacki watched their teammates get more high finishes to weather another WG win streak as Collin Zapisek (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle) and Jake Mullett (200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke) each won twice.
Then, in the closing 400 freestyle relay, J-D/CBA clinched the crown as Potacki and Speidel, teaming with Cory Knapp and Ben Katsarsky, blistered a time of 3:34.86 in the closing 400 freestyle relay.
Another classic would follow, J-D/CBA visiting Auburn on Friday night. This time, though, it was the Maroons finishing in front by a narrow 86-84 margin.
Nothing was decided until the closing 400 freestyle relay. Spediel, Potacki, Knapp and Katsarsky won, in a swift 3:28.28, but Auburn stayed right with J-D/CBA and, with a second-place clocking of 3:28.83, had enough to clinch the meet.
Before all this, J-D/CBA had won each of the first three races. Potacki took the 200 freestyle (1:53.91) and Speidel took the 200 IM (2:08.66) after Jack Martin, Willis Farnsworth, Charlie Scheftic and McMillen Judge earned a victory in the 200 medley relay in 1:53.91.
Though Speidel would win again, in the 500 freestyle (5:04.71), and though Knapp tore through the 100 freestyle in 51.33 seconds, Auburn won five of the next seven races, two each from Collin Mitchell (50 freestyle, 100 backstroke) and Nick Radell (100 butterfly, 100 breaststroke) before the decisive final race.
A day before J-D/CBA met West Genesee, Fayetteville-Manlius had its opener, falling to New Hartford 96-81 at the Nottingham High School pool that the Hornets use as a home facility.
The Hornets then fell to Pulaski 92-77 on Friday at the Nottingham pool, even though it won two of the three relays, plus a string of individual events.
Luke Oliverio needed 23.67 seconds to prevail in the 50 freestyle before claiming the 100 butterfly in 1:01.21. Tiberu Mihalia took the 200 IM (2:22.76), while Dan Dettor claimed the 500 freestyle and Matt Beach excelled at diving, earning 236.5 points.
In the 200 medley relay, Oliverio, Mihalia, Dettor and Garrett Tongue got first place in 1:56.86. Later, in the 400 freestyle relay F-M won again as that same quartet finished in 3:57.33.
