With an undefeated regular season now in the books, the Liverpool boys swim team will turn its attention to seeking the Section III Class A championship and, two days later, going after the George Falwell Cup symbolizing the area’s top team in 2014-15.
Already at 9-0, the Warriors, with the CNY Counties League regular-season title in hand, ventured to Auburn last Friday night and put together more strong efforts in individual races and relays during a 105-76 victory over the Maroons.
Liverpool’s star quartet of Nick Burdo, Connor Thiel, Liam Henry and Troy Miller got together in the opening race, the 200-yard medley relay, and bolted to victory in one minute, 40.40 seconds, the Warriors’ best time of the winter in that race.
Henry competed in his specialty, the 100 buttterfly, and went 54.78 seconds for a first-place finish as Thiel, in second place, posted 57.59 seconds. Miller, winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.16, was part of a 1-2-3 Liverpool effort as Trevor Case (1:08.78) and Lachlan Eicholzer (1:13.60) followed.
Burdo’s lone individual title came in the 100 backstroke, where he roared to a time of 56.91 seconds, with Matt Petit (59.48 seconds) in the runner-up spot. This came after Burdo and Petit, joined by Henry and Miller, went 1:31.21 in the 200 freestyle relay.
Also sweeping the top spots in diving, the Warriors saw Brennan Matthews pick up 183.4 points, with Tom Brancato second (148.55 points) and Lukas McIlroy third with 139.5 points.
Matt Hunter was second (2:02.35) to Auburn’s Tyler Mason (1:57.51) in the 200 freestyle, with Mason also winning the 500 freestyle in 5:08.27 as his teammate, Jacob Whiting, took first in the 200 individual medley (2:18.04) and 100 freestyle (54.88 seconds).
For the Warriors, Griffin O’Neil was third in the 500 freestyle in 5:31.85, with Al Abdel-Razzaq third in the 100 free in 55.68 seconds. Rainer Grimme took third in the 200 IM in 2:23.88.
Section III competition actually got started on Saturday, with the diving Class A championships. Matthews fared best among the Liverpool divers, taking 12th place with 278.3 points, as Jamesville-DeWItt/CBA’s Alex Dieroff won with 473.5 points, holding off teammate Matt Wanamaker (469.05 points) for that top spot.
Liverpool is hosting the rest of the sectional Class A meet this Thursday at 5 p.m. The state qualifier follows on Saturday at SUNY-Cortland and starts at 1 p.m.
