With its roster healthy again, the CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt boys swim team went right after Liverpool in pursuit of the Section III Class A team championship, and while it did not quite get there, it still accomplished plenty.
In a Class A meet moved from Liverpool to West Genesee, and pushed back to Saturday by winter snows, CBA/J-D earned 374 points, beating everyone in the Class A field except the Warriors, who made it to the top spot with 416 points.
Kevin Potocki had missed CBA/J-D’s late-season meets due to the flu, including a Feb. 4 loss to Liverpool. Determined to show up and do something special, Potocki came through in the 100-yard butterfly, surprising Liverpool’s Nick Burdo, the favorite, as he won in 53.59 seconds to Burdo’s 54.12 second mark. Potocki was also third (2:07.07) in the 200 individual medley.
Corey Knapp was also victorious, going 48.76 seconds in the 100 freestyle to hold off Auburn’s Collin Mitchell (49.05 seconds) at the wall. He was also third in the 200 freestyle in 1:49.12 as West Genesee’s Collin Zapisek, named the meet’s Most Outstanding Swimmer, broke a 21-year-old poor record in 1:44.42.
Josh Lacey had a close-up view of Zapisek twice, first in the 200 freestyle, where he went 1:48.99, and then in the 500 freestyle, where in 4:54.05 Lacey still trailed Zapisek’s 4:44.14.
Twice, CBA/J-D finished second in relays. Knapp, Lacey, Potocki and Casey Sawyer swam the 200 freestyle relay in 1:29.36, qualifying for the state championship meet, but just behind Liverpool, who won in 1:28.67.
That was the case again in the 400 freestyle relay, where that same quartet of Knapp, Lacey, Potocki and Sawyer went 3:18.06 to beat the state qualifying standard again, but also finish second again as Liverpool finished in 3:16.62.
A day later, the whole scene shifted to Hamilton College for the state qualifying meet, and despite the short turnover, the times got better on all fronts as CBA/J-D, with 309 points, again finished second to Liverpool (348) for the George Falwell Cup.
Lacey, in particular, got going in the 200 freestyle, as his time of 1:46.01, while second to Zapisek’s 1:44.43, still qualified him for the state meet. He also smashed through the state qualifying barrier in the 500 freestyle, going 4:45.86 to beat the standard by more than six seconds, though once again Zapisek prevailed, in 4:42.79.
Knapp improved to 48.01 seconds in the 100 freestyle, winning that event and joining his chasers, Auburn’s Collin Mitchell (48.27 seconds) and Holland Patent’s Barrett Celecki (48.74 seconds), as they all beat the state qualifying standard of 48.76 seconds.
Potocki could not match his 100 butterfly victory from the day before, settling for third place in 53.67 seconds behind Burdo (53.02 seconds), who edged out Auburn’s Nick Radell (53.03 seconds), while Potocki also got third place in the 200 IM in 2:02.32.
As for Sawyer, he roared to third place in the 50 freestyle in 22.53 seconds, and with Lacey, Knapp and Potocki, he helped CBA/J-D nearly catch Liverpool in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:28.78, just behind the Warriors’ 1:28.20.
And it was just as close in the final race, the 400 freestyle relay. Sawyer, Potocki, Lacey and Knapp hit the line in 3:14.80, with Liverpool having to go 3:14.40 to beat them, though they’ll both make their way to Webster to race again in the state meet.
Fayetteville-Manlius diver Matt Beach, who already had advanced to the state meet in diving, picked up 405.4 points to finish third behind Liverpool’s Joe Roche (561.25 points) and Mexicos’ Noah Galuzzo (550.2 points).
