A new year meant that full-borne activity would start again for the Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA boys swim team as it looked to stay in front of the Onondaga High School League standings.
And it also meant some milestones, including one from Cory Knapp that was particularly special during Friday night’s 98-77 victory over the host Auburn Maroons.
Knapp started to roll in the 200-yard freestyle, winning in one minute, 50.69 seconds. Then he claimed a classic 100 butterfly in 55.67 seconds, edging out Auburn’s Tyler Mason (56 seconds flat) for that top spot.
Going after a third individual title, Knapp earned it in the 100 freestyle in 49.99 seconds, again with Mason (52.22 seconds) behind him. But even that wasn’t enough.
During the 200 freestyle relay, Knapp, paired with Kevin Potocki, Spencer Schultz and Casey Sawyer, won again, in 1:34.42. And when Knapp, Potocki, Colin Howe and Jack Toole swam the 400 freestyle relay in 3:36.14, it gave Knapp a personal-best five first-place finishes in a single meet.
Amid all this, Sawyer and Schultz, paired with Connor Evans and Owen Farchione, went 1:50.95 to win the 200 medley relay before Sawyer, in 23.33 seconds, won the 50 freestyle. Potocki swam the 200 individual medley in a season-best 2:02.57 as Evans won the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.02.
As if that wasn’t enough, there was also a first-class diving duel between Matt Wanamaker and Alex Dieroff. Both of them put up season-best totals, but Wanamaker, with 283.57 points, prevailed, leaving Dieroff, with 278.88 points, to settle for second place.
It didn’t prove too difficult for the Red Rams in last Tuesday’s meet against the combined Syracuse team at Henninger High school, with J-D/CBA rolling to a 101-76 victory.
For the most part, the top swimmers took on a supporting role, though Evans, Knapp, Potocki and Sawyer did get some work in during the 200 medley relay, posting a top time of one minute, 46.91 seconds, with Toole joining Sawyer, Potocki and Knapp to go 1:33.84 in the 200 freestyle relay.
Schultz won the 50 freestyle in 24.78 seconds, with Sebassten Phipps (26.62 seconds) in second place. Howe, in 58.10 seconds, held off teammate Giovanni Antonucci (58.45 seconds) to finish first in the 100 freestyle.
A close 200 individual medley saw Farchione, in 2:28.27, edge Ryan Briscoe (2:29.58), this after Spencer Sutherland (2:10.09) and Andrew Comanici (2:16.42) went 1-2 in the 200 freestyle.
Alex Dieroff put up 263.65 points in diving, just enough to beat Matt Wanamaker (251.00 points) for the title. Nathan Basch was first in the 500 freestyle in 6:03.38, while James Lynch took top honors in the 100 butterfly in 1:05.96.
J-D/CBA had rested for two weeks before the Syracuse meet, having moved to 7-1 back on Dec. 23 with a 52-39 victory over Pulaski.
Dan McGann had torn to a time of 55.45 seconds in the 100 butterfly after he won the 50 freestyle in 24.47 seconds, as he was the lone Red Rams swimmer to claim a pair of individual races.
Not only did Jeff Gabriel claim the 200 individual medley in 2:24.11, he paired with Potocki, Knapp and Sargon Bebla for a time of 1:53.70 in the 200 medley relay. Later in the meet, Gabriel and McGann, joined by Bebla and James Lynch, swam the 200 freestyle relay in 1:40.86.
