In order for the West Genesee boys swim team to climb to the top of the CNY Counties League again, it would need to knock off two big-name opponents, Auburn and Liverpool, in consecutive weeks.
The first of these tasks was handled in an impressive manner Friday night as Collin Zapisek, with his pair of titles, helped the Wildcats knock off the previously unbeaten Maroons 99-79.
Just before Zapisek took to the pool, WG struck the first blow in the 200 medley relay. Jake Mullett, Joe Amedro, Jeff Hotaling and Matt O’Donnell paired up and, in a time of one minute, 49.38 seconds, beat Auburn (1:58.40) by more than nine seconds to take a quick lead.
Then, in the 200 freestyle, Zapisek took off, roaring to victory in 1:49.48, less than a second off his Section III-best effort of 1:49.02.
Later in the meet, in the 100 freestyle, Zapisek pulled away from Auburn’s Nick Radell and the field. By finishing in 49.85 seconds, Zapisek broke the 50-second mark and pulled into second in the sectional standings behind Liverpool’s Nick Burdo, who swam the 100 free in 48.65 seconds during a win over Cicero-North Syracuse the night before.
Plenty of others would join in, including Mullett and O’Donnell in back-to-back races. First, Mullett dominated the 500 freestyle, prevailing in 5:16.84.
O’Donnell went to his specialty, the 100 backstroke, and engaged in a terrific race against Radell, eventually winning in 58.09 seconds to Radell’s 59.84. As with Zapisek in the 100 freestyle, O’Donnell has the section’s second-fastest time, only trailing Burdo (56.54 seconds) so far.
Elsewhere, Dave Whitting, who was second (23.57 seconds) to the Maroons’ Collin Mitchell (23.09 seconds) in the 50 freestyle, rebounded to win the 100 butterfly in a season-best 56.40 seconds. D.J. Coomber accumulated 171.5 points and claimed the diving event as Sean Hagadorn, in 1:09.69, claimed first in the 100 breaststroke.
This, of course, leads to the showdown with Liverpool on Friday, preceded by the Wildcats visiting Oswego Wednesday night.
