Each time the Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA boys swim team takes on Liverpool, the intensity picks up and the memories of great duels between the two long-time powers gets conjured up.
So when the Red Rams met the Warriors Tuesday night, there was plenty of intensity, along with two wins from Spencer Schultz – and yet it still wasn’t enough for J-D/CBA as it lost 97-89, to Liverpool, who improved its record to 9-0.
In the first race, though, the Rams got the best of it as Schultz, paired with Jeff Gabriel, Luca Bebla and Owen Farchione, covered the 200-yard medley relay in one minute, 41.16 seconds to pull away from Liverpool’s 1:44.83.
Not stopping there, Schultz would tear through the 100 butterfly in 53.99 seconds to pull away from Liverpool’s J.J. Ross (56.34 seconds) and the field, while also winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.94 to edge Bebla (1:05.43) by less than a second as Nathan Chen (1:09.89) completed a 1-2-3 sweep by the Rams.
Gabriel went 22.85 seconds to get away from Liverpool star J.J. Ross (23.25 seconds) and win the 50 freestyle, though in the 100 freestyle Gabriel settled for second place in 51.66 seconds behind the Warriors’ Tom Griffin, who prevailed in 49.84 seconds and also won the 100 backstroke in 55.51 seconds.
J-D/CBA also swept the diving competition, with Ryan Evans amassing 280.65 points and Lucas Dekaney second with 247.05 points. This followed the Jan. 21 OHSL championships at Mexico where, despite the Rams’ second-place team finish behind the Tigers, Evans prevailed in diving with 462.80 points and Dekaney (411.40 points) followed in the runner-up spot.
Nathan Basch was second in the 200 freestyle in 2:00.38 behind Liverpool’s Griffin O’Neil (1:56.69), while Chris Bushnell’s time of 2:12.73 in the 200 invididual medley put him behind the Warriors’ Curtis Merrick, who won in 2:08.24.
Farchione, in 58.39 seconds, and Bushnell, in 58.80 seconds, were second and third, respectively, behind Griffin in the 100 backstroke, while Connor Ball was second in the 500 freestyle in 5;31.19, though it was well behind Griffin O’Neil’s 5:16.67 that won it for Liverpool.
There was also a close battle in the 200 freestyle relay, where J-D/CBA’s quartet of Schultz, Bushnell, Gabriel and Bebla finished in 1:32.89, but Liverpool had Ross, Merrick, Matt Geary and James Hunter post 1:32.15 to win it.
With no rest, J-D/CBA had to compete for the fourth time in eight days when it met West Genesee 24 hours after the Liverpool meet. The far fresher Wildcats would prevail over the Red Rams 102-84.
Schultz, Farchione, Bebla and Bushnell had opened the meet by taking the 200 medley relay in 1:48.60, and Gabriel followed by edging WG’s Matt Shoults, 1:57.82 to 1;58 flat, in the 200 freestyle.
But the Wildcats won the next three individual events, including a diving event where Peter Bowman set a WG single-meet school record with 318.30 points to top Evans (288.0 points) and Dekaney (252.30 points).
Gabriel returned to win a second time in the 500 freestyle in 5:30.66, while Bushnell (1:00.08) and Bebla (1:01.72) went 1-2 in the 100 butterfly. Farchione claimed the 100 backstroke in 59.64 seconds amid a late stretch where WG won three of the last four races, including both relays, to clinch it, Ryan Hagadorn pacing the Wildcats as he won both the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.
Evans would get his payback against Bowman during Saturday’s Syracuse Diving Invitational. Earning 486.80 points, Evans won the event, while Bowman finished second with 477.80 points. Each of them passed the 450-point mark needed to qualify for the state championship meet as Dekaney finished fourth, earning 419.75 points.
