Though the Liverpool boys swim knew that Watertown possessed some of the best individual talents in all of Central New York, it didn’t prove too bothersome when the two sides squared off on the first Saturday of 2015.
From the outset, the Warriors controlled the meet, and utilizing its superior death, roared until it had defeated the Cyclones by a score of 104-73.
That depth was on display right from the outset. During the 200-yard medley relay, Liverpool’s quartet of Troy Miller, Griffin O’Neil, Luke Rogers and Connor Thiel put up a time of one minute, 47.68 seconds that Watertown, despite a solid 1:52.81, could not match.
Miller would move on to the 100 butterfly, where in 54.01 seconds he pulled away from Cyclones star Joey Ongkingco, who was second in 55.90 seconds. Then, in the 100 breaststroke, Miller, in 1:05.40, held off Watertown’s Jake Faveret (1:08.62) for another victory.
As for Nick Burdo, he began his day by going 1:45.77 in the 200 freestyle, pulling away from Ongkingco’s second-place effort, which took 1:51.14 to complete.
Dueling with Watertown’s Andrew Marilley in the 500 freestyle, Burdo won by a big margin, his time of 5:00.38 dwarfing Marilley’s 5:12.65, though Marilley did win the 200 individual medley in 2:05.18, with Thiel (2:12.28) in second place.
Liam Henry beat Favret, 23.14 seconds to 23.56, to give Liverpool another first-place finish in the 50 freestyle, and completed his sprint sweep in the 100 freestyle by going 51.06 seconds to edge teammate Nick Petit (51.73 seconds), who would later win the 100 backstroke in 1:02.26 to the 1:03.43 posted by Watertown’s Jake Roux.
Working together, Henry, Petit, Miller and Burdo would tear through the 200 freestyle relay in 1:30.20, winning a classic battle with the Cyclones, whose own time of 1:31.03 would have claimed any other race against any other Section III opponent this winter.
Also, the Warriors would take the diving competition as Nick Matthews, with 157.3 points, got past Roux (128.55 points). Liverpool has big meets this week against two more long-time rivals, West Genesee (Tuesday) and Baldwinsville (Thursday).
