It just so happened that many of the Baldiwnsville boys swim team’s most difficult assignments of the season came in the first two weeks, somewhat obscuring the terrific times its swimmers were putting up.
Such was the case again when the Bees visited Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA last Tuesday night, another high-quality meet where only superior depth from the Red Rams made the difference as B’ville took a 96-87 defeat.
Through four races, B’ville led 34-28, helped by Alex Hiltbrand’s 50 freestyle victory in 23 seconds flat as he, along with Ryan Hiltbrand, John Licciardello and Nick Schultz roared to first place in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:45.72.
But without a diving competitor, the Bees fell behind, only to get back in front 63-60 as Ryan Hiltbrand edged J-D/CBA’s Owen Farchione, 51.69 seconds to 51.74, in the 100 freestyle and Liccardello won the 500 freestyle in 5:18.91, going 1-2-3 in that event with Brandon Formoza (5:42.43) and Jamus Socker (5:58.52).
A close 200 freestyle relay saw Foromza, Schultz, Hiltbrand and Bailey Ludden finished second in 1:36.67 to J-D/CBA’s 1:36 flat, and the Rams swept the top three spots in the 100 backstroke to move in front for good.
Still, Schultz added a victory in the 100 breaststroke on the Bees’ side in a swift 1:02.83after finishing second in the 200 individual medley in 2:12.98.
Licciardello was second in the 200 freestyle in 1:58.10, but he closed the meet in a strong manner, joining Ludden, Formoza and Hiltbrand to go 3:33.32 in the 400 freestyle relay.
Returning home on Friday night, B’ville faced Auburn, and swept through all of the races on the way to defeating the Maroons 53-35.
The Hiltbrand brothers joined Licciardello and Schultz to swim the 200 medley relay in 1:50.66. Following that, Ryan Hiltbrand rolled to first place in the 200 freestyle in 1:53.84 as Alex Hiltbrand posted 1:09.01 in the 100 breaststroke.
Schultz would roll to a time of 5:34.04 and win the 500 freestyle as Licciardello again claimed the 100 freestyle in 51.73 seconds before a top 100 backstroke time of 1:00.81.
Ludden would beat the field in the 50 freestyle in 24.26 seconds as Formoza was first in the 100 butterfly in 1:05.36, edging Socker (1:05.72). John Burns won the 200 IM in 2:26.1 and paired with Formoza, Ludden and Eric Smith to take the 200 freestyle relay in 1:45.98 as Hiltbrand, Formoza, Smith and Quinn Gruppe went 3:51.11 in the 400 freestyle relay.
This all set up a key early-season meet on Wednesday as 3-1 B’ville hosted 3-0 West Genesee, the two fighting for spots behind Liverpool in the Salt City Athletic Conference race.
