With each meet, and each victory, the Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA boys swim team builds up its confidence, all of which will be required when the Red Rams have its showdown with Liverpool on Jan. 27.
In last Friday’s visit to West Genesee, J-D/CBA engaged in a series of thrilling races, including one that ended in a dead heat, but again relied on its overwhelming depth to turn back the Wildcats’ challenge and prevail by a 96-84 margin.
Casey Sawyer engaged with WG’s Dave Whiting twice. Whiting won the first time, 22.85 seconds to 23.10, in the 50-yard freestyle, but in the 100 butterfly the pair dueled all the way to the end and touched the wall at the exact same time of 54.04 seconds, while Spencer Schultz (55.82 seconds) finished third.
By then, J-D/CBA already had control. Andrew Comanici (2:04.13) and Dan McGann (2:05.18) went 1-2 in the 200 freestyle, while Comanici went on to take the 500 freestyle in 5:32.41, where Owen Farchione (5:44.20) gained the runner-up spot.
Jack Toole, in 2:17.49, edged Chris Bushnell (2:19.95) by less than half a second to win the 200 individual medley. Another close race, the 100 freestyle, saw Jeff Gabriel, in 52.52 seconds, fend off WG’s Nate Gdula (52.70 seconds),
Ryan Evans was second (213.15 points) to WG’s Peter Bowman (248.35 points) in the diving event, with Luca Bebla winning the 100 backstroke in 1:03.42. McGann, Toole, Farchione and Sawyer went 1:35.39 in the 200 freestyle relay to hold off the Wildcats (1:36.13) as, earlier in the meet, Colin Howe, Riley Lankes, James Lynch and William Johnson were victorious in the 200 medley relay in 2:09.42.
All of this followed Wednesday’s match against Pulaski where J-D/CBA prevailed, 92-82, and got two wins from Sawyer, who went 2:01.56 in the 200 freestyle and tore to a time of 5:03.57 to earn first place in the 500 freestyle.
Evans earned 222.15 points on the diving board to hold off Kyler Harrington (212.15 points) for the top spot. Bushnell was first in the 200 IM in 2:20.07, with Farchione (1:01.34) beating Lynch (1:05.40) in the 100 butterfly.
Liam Kaplan needed 58.86 seconds to prevail in the 100 freestyle as Giovanni Antonucci won the 100 backstroke (1:10.69) and Sargon Bebla beat the field in the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.43. J-D/CBA also was victorious in the 200 medley (1:59.25) and 200 freestyle (1:45.29) relays.
It was Fayetteville-Manlius who would meet Liverpool head-to-head last Thursday night, venturing to the Warriors’ home pool, as J-D/CBA will do, and unable to keep pace in a 101-82 defeat.
Even with the result, the Hornets did gain some individual titles, starting in the 200 individual medley, where Tanner Eisenhunt got a first-place time of 2:19.06 before Matt Beach prevailed in the diving competition, earning 214.35 points.
Ben Stroh, swimming in the 500 freestyle, claimed that title in 5:49.60, and would later swim in the 400 freestyle relay, joining Josh Lok, Kyle O’Byrne and Ricky Wan as the Hornets prevailed in 4:02.84.
Even without seeing Liverpoool star Nick Burdo in individual races, the Warriors still got titles from Matt Geary (100 butterfly), Griffin O’Neil (200 freestyle), J.J. Ross (100 freestyle), Kyle Richardson (100 backstroke) and Rainer Grimme (100 breaststroke).