In both relay races and individual events, a group of Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA boys swimmers sought new record and top finishes during last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Long Island’s Nassau County Aquatic Center.
Spencer Schultz, Owen Farchione, Luca Bebla and Jeff Gabriel were together in the 200 medley relay, where J-D/CBA had qualified with 1:38.74, 18th among 39 sides. In Friday’s qualifying round, the Red Rams posted 1:39.13, but then improved to 1:38.91 in the finals to stay at 18th place. St. Anthony’s won in a state-record 1:33.32.
Individually, Schultz had gone 52.62 seconds to reach the state meet in the 100 butterfly, 30th among 68 entrants. Though not quite as fast as he had gone earlier in the season, Schultz still went 52.81 seconds in the qualifying round and 52.99 seconds in the finals to finish 26th overall. Rocky Point’s Chris O’Shea won in 48.76 seconds.
Ryan Evans entered the diving competition as the 20th qualifier in a 34-man field with 486.80 points. But Evans was unable to make it out of the opening round, earning just 166.95 points there to take 32nd place overall, two spots behind West Genesee’s Peter Bowman. West Islip’s Patrick Carter was victorious with 580.05 points.
Farchione had gone 54.81 seconds in the 100 backstroke during the Section III championships Feb. 18 at Nottingham High School in order to qualify for the state meet. Here, he went 55.28 seconds and was 41st overall in an event Tyler Hill (Horace Greeley) won in a blazing 49.01 seconds.
