Liverpool — At least for now, the Liverpool boys swim team still holds on to the title of best in Section III.
Buoyed by a string of victories late in the meet, the Warriors defeated Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA 101-84 Wednesday night in a showdown of two undefeated league champions.
Liverpool arrived having already locked up the regular-season crown in the CNY Counties League. J-D/CBA was the top side in the Onondaga High School League, with the Red Rams determined to avenge last season’s runner-up finishes to the Warriors, both head-to-head and in the sectional Class A meet.
Through nine events, the two sides were virtually at a standstill, Liverpool clinging to a 70-69 lead, but still knowing that it needed strong efforts in the three remaining races.
It all turned in the 100-yard backstroke. Swimming in the outside lane, Tom Griffin posted the top time of 57.84 seconds, with Curtis Merrick claiming second place in 58.26 seconds and Griffin O’Neil (59.17 seconds) getting third place.
This 1-2-3 sweep gave the Warriors momentum that CBA/J-D could not get back. To close out the meet, Hayato Hirota edged the Rams’ Luca Bebla, 1:05.94 to 1:06.25, in the 100 breaststroke, and in the 400 freestyle relay O’Neil, Griffin, Luke Rogers and Matt Geary pulled away to win in 3:29.65.
What helped the Warriors the most was that it swept the first-place spots in each relay event. In the opening 200 medley relay, Griffin and Hirota, paired with Nick Burdo and J.J. Ross, went 1:40.67 to beat J-D/CBA’s quartet of Bebla, Dan McGann, Casey Sawyer and Jeff Gabriel, who was second in 1:42.31.
Burdo triumphed in the longest and shortest races of the night. In the 50 freestyle, Burdo posted a state-qualifying 21.49 seconds to beat Sawyer (22.19 seconds) by a comfortable margin. Then, in the 500 freestyle, Burdo posted 5:02.23 to beat J-D/CBA’s Jack Toole (5:09.73) by more than seven seconds.
continued — Matt Petit needed 1:50.19 to pull away from Toole (1:55.29) and win the 200 freestyle, later joining Burdo, Griffin and Ross in the 200 freestyle relay as Liverpool, in 1:30.35, got away from the Rams’ quartet of McGann, Sawyer, Gabriel and Spencer Schultz, who was second in 1:32.05.
J-D/CBA did get wins from Schultz in the 200 individual medley (2:08.68) and Sawyer in the 100 butterfly (53.90 seconds), with Schultz the runner-up. Ryan Evans (237.85 points) edged Kyler Harrington (222.85 points) in diving, with Liverpool’s Brennan Matthews third with 195.4 points.
Merrick (2:11.18) and Ross (2:14.18) were second and third, respectively, behind Schultz in the 200 IM, with Geary third in the 200 freestyle in 1:59.59. Ross took third in the 100 butterfly in 57.16 seconds and O’Neil was third (5:14.31) in the 500 freestyle behind Burdo.
Liverpool and J-D/CBA are not done with each other, as they’ll clash again in two weeks at Nottingham High School during the Section III Class A championships. Meanwhile, the Warriors close out the regular season next week against Oswego.
