Another season is underway for the West Genesee boys swim team, and the fact that it boasts a deep roster had an immediate impact.
The Wildcats opened its 2018-19 slate Wednesday night at Auburn, where the Maroons won more than half the events, but WG, because it had full participation everywhere, piled up points and rolled to a 95-63 victory.
An example of this depth was the 200-yard freestyle. Though Auburn’s Sam Carbonaro easily won in one minute, 53.33 seconds, WG’s Alex Shuron was second, Keegan Schauron third and Colin Whalen fourth, so the Wildcats got more points out of the race.
That happened two more times, in the 500 freestyle (where Cabonaro won again) and 100 breaststroke, with Jackson Craig and Tom Parisi earning runner-up finishes and the likes of Matt Shields, Ian Payne, Nolan Meritt and Aiden Braun behind them.
But WG did win its share of events, starting in the 200 individual medley, where Ryan McMahon posted a time of 2:13.64 right before Ryan Shields (25.91 seconds) and Jack McManus (26.20 seconds) went 1-2 in the 50 freestyle.
Matt Barrington, in 59.84 seconds, held off teammate Nate Long (1:01.55) to win the 100 freestyle as Cameron Chao needed 1:02.68 to beat the field in the 100 butterfly.
Chao, Schauron, McMahon and Shuron would roar to first place in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.59 as Jacob DiBlase was second and Ryan Korzeniewski third in the 100 backstroke. McMahon, Meritt, Long and Tiernan Guy were second in the 200 medley relay in a time of 2:05.38, just behind Auburn’s 2:04.33.
Things pick up for the Wildcats next week with two home meets in a 48-hour span as it welcomes Syracuse City on Tuesday night and New Hartford on Thursday night.
