No one, at this point, is getting close to the torrid pace set by the Liverpool boys swim team in the CNY Counties League, though Cicero-North Syraucse is putting up its own noble effort.
Each of the sides had meets last Wednesday night, and each of them won, as the Warriors smashed past visiting Oswego 104-80 and the Northstars took out Syracuse 97-83 for its first victory of the season following an 0-2 start.
For Liverpool, who had seen its Jan. 3 meet with Fayetteville-Manlius snowed out, it was a chance to get back to work after mostly resting during the holiday break, and do so against a strong Oswego side that entered the meet with a 3-0 record.
Garrett Clarke, in the 200-yard freestyle, won in a time of one minute, 51.64 seconds. Clarke would also team with Nick Burdo, Matt Petit and Liam Henry as Liverpool prevailed in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:30.71, holding off the Buccaneers’ strong quartet of Alex Kemper, Ben McCrobie, Dylan Harrington and Leo Gorton, who were second in 1:33.12.
On his own, Burdo won twice, beating Gorton, 21.82 seconds to 22.98, in the 50 freestyle with one of the season’s fastest time. Then, in the 100 backstroke, Burdo finished in 56.51 seconds for another impressive victory.
Dan Roche, already a state qualifier on the diving board, earned 308.55 points on this night for another first-place finish, right before Troy Miller won the 100 butterfly in 56.76 seconds.
Connor Thiel, who was second (1:04.18) to the Bucs’ Dylan Harrington (1:03.41) in the 100 breaststroke (Harrington also won the 200 individual medley), atoned in the 400 freestyle relay, combining with Ian Davis, Connor Thiel and Trevor Case to win in 4:00.19.
C-NS could not match those sorts of times, but still had its own strong effort against Syracuse, starting in the 200 medley relay, where Jacob Mekker, Scott Cooley, Nate Acona and Steve Cooley prevailed in 1:56.72.
Acona would also claim a close 200 IM over Zach Dengos, 2:30.69 to 2:31.83, and add a victory in the 100 butterfly in 1:09.85. Mekker was second in a tight 50 freestyle in 26.30 seconds to Steve Cooley, who won in 26.24 seconds.
Dan Eager pulled off his own double, starting in the 200 freestyle, where he won in 2:08.31 over Syracuse’s Billy Latour (2:09.16), and then beat Dengos, 56.93 seconds to 58.61, in the 100 freestyle.
Scott Cooley, meanwhile, was victorious in the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.26, with Matt McAndrew (1:20.61) in second place. Eager, McAndrew and the Cooley brothers got together and, in the 200 freestyle relay, won that race in 1:46.59.
Liverpool was in action again on Saturday, hosting Watertown, and Clarke had another big performance as the Warriors thrashed the Cyclones 105-72.
With his time of 58.63 seconds in the 100 breaststroke, Clarke broke his own pool record, and needed that effort since Watertown’s Mike Netto was second in 1:00.57.
Also, Clarke won the 50 freestyle in 22.41 seconds, and paired with Burdo, Henry and Miller for a Warrior victory in the 200 medley relay in 1:40.39, with the Cyclones second in 1:44.99. In the 200 freestyle relay, Petit joined Clarke, Burdo and Miller as Liverpool, in 1:29.76, again beat Watertown (1:32.17) for the top spot.
As for Burdo, he swam the 200 freestyle in 1:46.61, far ahead of Watertown’s Joey Ongkingco (1:52.14), and tore through the 100 freestyle in 47.69 seconds for another one-sided victory.
Petit, second in th 50 freestyle to Clarke, prevailed in 58.90 seconds in the 100 backstroke, holding off Marc Alessi (59.26) in one of the closer races of the meet. Roche remained consistent on the diving board, winning with 300.53 points as Henry took the 500 freestyle in 5:46.27.
