At just the right moment, the Liverpool boys swim team started to unleash its full range of talents, sending a strong message to the rest of the CNY Counties League in the process.
Garrett Clarke, Nick Burdo, Dan Hens and Dan Roche each turned in command performances as the Warriors dismissed neighbor and rival Cicero-North Syracuse 102-78 Thursday night at the LHS pool.
Clarke, already with the season’s fastest time in the 200 individual medley (2:05.65), now did the same in the 100 breaststroke, blazing to victory in 58.94 seconds, the first Section III swimmer to break the one-minute mark this year.
It was the same for Burdo in the 100 freestyle. To this point, no local swimmer had cracked 50 seconds, but Burdo went way faster, beating the field in 48.68 seconds – and needing to, since Mozo was second in 50.03 seconds.
A 50-yard freestyle classic saw Hens and C-NS’s Ben Mozo nearly go to the wire together. When it was done, Mozo, in 22.81 seconds, had the second- fastest Section III time of the winter in that sprint, while Mozo (22.83) was just 0.02 seconds behind.
Not content with that, Hens went from the shortest race to the longest one and was just as dominant in the 500 freestyle, as with a clocking of 5:09.32 Hens moved to third on the sectional leaderboard.
When it came to the diving competition, Roche stood out, too. His score of 296.05 points was the second-best in the section this year, trailing only Mexico star Nick Rodriguez.
And all of this started with another season-best performance in the 200 medley relay. Clarke, Hens, Troy Miller and Nick Burdo roared to victory in 1:39.98, and the Warriors would never trail in this meet.
Right after that, in the 200 freestyle, the Warriors’ Drew Henry and the Northstars’ Ricky Blackburn nearly went stroke for stroke, but Henry won in 1:56.35 to Blackburn’s 1:56.49 as another C-NS swimmer, Tim Hahn, was third in 2:00.59.
On a more calm note, Connor Thiel (2:14.80) edged out Miller (2:15.06) for first place in the 200 individual medley. Drew Nann swam the 100 butterfly in a top time of 1:01.12 as Marc Alessi, in the 100 backstroke, gave the Warriors another victory in 1:01.07.
C-NS would claim two relays before it was done. Mozo, Blackburn, Hahn and Dan Eager swam the 200 freestyle relay in 1:37.30, and that same quartet would return in the closing 400 freestyle relay to earn an impressive victory in 3:34.71.
Just before facing Liverpool, C-NS took on Fayetteville-Manlius at the Le Moyne College pool and cruised to an 89-71 victory over the Hornets.
Blackburn led the way, as he sped to a time of 52.96 seconds in the 100 freestyle and also earned a victory in the 200 freestyle in 1:58.23. He also combined with Mozo, Hahn and Eager to post a quick time of 1:37.04 in the 200 freestyle relay.
On his own, Mozo, in the 50 freestyle, prevailed in 23.02 seconds as Jacob Mekker needed 1:11.38 to beat the field in the 100 backstroke. Also, Mozo teamed with Eager, Hahn and Scott Cooley to win the 200 medley relay.
C-NS is back in action Thursday, taking on Baldwinsville at Le Moyne. Liverpool, meanwhile, has another big meet on Friday, when it hosts West Genesee.
