When the Baldwinsville boys swim team made its trip to West Genesee last Friday night, it did so sporting a four-meet win streak that put it in second place in the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division behind Liverpool.
And the Bees would make it five in a row, with Nick Schultz’s quartet of victories a key factor in a 96-85 win over the Wildcats.
On his own, Schultz would go 24.16 seconds to claim victory in the 50-yard freestyle, and then, in the 100 breaststroke, Schultz set a new season mark, winning in 1:01.82 over WG’s Ryan McMahon (1:03.96).
Teaming with John Licciardello, Alex Hiltbrand and Harrison German, Schultz helped the Bees take the 200 medley relay in 1:46.93 and then, in the 200 freestyle relay, Bailey Ludden joined Schultz, Hiltbrand and German to prevail in 1:36.60.
Hiltbrand swam the 100 butterfly in 55.99 seconds to top the Wildcats’ Alex Shuron (57.84) before Licciardello won the 100 freestyle in 52.75 seconds, this after Licciardello was a close second (1:59.50) to Shuron (1:59.22) in the 200 freestyle.
Ludden’s lone victory came in the 500 freestyle, where he posted 5:29.40. Evan Bohman, second in the 200 individual medley in 2:18.51, would win the 100 backstroke in 1:01.14, edging WG’s Keagan Schauron (1:01.47) in that event.
And for a closing flourish, Licciardello, Ludden, Hiltbrand and John Burns worked together to go 3:34.43 in the 400 freestyle relay.
B’ville’s fourth consecutive win had come last Monday night, when it hosted Mexico and, with two wins apiece from Hiltbrand and Ludden, the Bees got a 52-42 victory over the Tigers.
In the 50 freestyle, Hiltbrand tore to victory in 22.67 seconds, and followed it up by swimming in the 100 breaststroke where, in a time of 1:09.66, he prevailed again.
Ludden was involved in an exciting 200 freestyle where, in 1:52.74, he held off Mexico’s Dylan Long (1:52.77) by three-hundredths of a second, and earned a more comfortable win in the 100 freestyle in 53.71 seconds.
Also pairing up, Ludden and Hiltbrand, joined by Licciardello and Quinn Gruppe, roared to first place in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:35.92 to Mexico’s 1:40.02. Hiltbrand, Gruppe, Schultz and Bohman were first in the 200 medley relay in 1:48.35.
Bohman won, too, going 1:02.98 to hold off Mexico’s Tyler Warner (1:04.23) in the 100 backstroke while also finishing second (2:19.02), just ahead of Burns (2:19.20), in the 200 IM, with Warner winning in 2:18.33.
Burns, in 1:02.13, was second to Jason Porter (1:01.05) in the 100 butterfly, with Licciardello, third in the 200 freestyle, getting to second place in the 500 freestyle in 5:24.39 to Long’s 5:11.98. In the 400 freestyle relay, Licciardello, Bohman, Ludden and Eric Smith went 3:39.22, just behind Mexico’s 3:39.07.
At 5-1 after the win over West Genesee, B’ville would host Cicero-North Syracuse Monday and then visit Oswego Thursday night.
