Having accumulated a 7-2-1 record, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys swim team saved its most challenging regular-season meet for the end.
The Hornets welcomed undefeated Liverpool to Cazenovia College Friday night, and there were different times in that meet where F-M was out in front – but it could not stay there as it absorbed a 96.5-88.5 defeat.
To open its challenge, the Hornets went 1-2 in the 200-yard freestyle, Quinn Smith prevailing in one minute, 54.02 seconds, just ahead of Lucas Weires’ 1:54.82.
Jason Porter was first in the 100 butterfly in 58.58 seconds before Weires sped to the front in the 100 freestyle in 58.58 seconds, which helped F-M tie things 54.5-54.5.
When Miguel Aldana was second and Eli Kligerman third in the 500 freestyle, the Hornets went up 64.5-60.5, only to have Liverpool sweep the top three in the 200 freestyle relay and never trail again.
Still, Smith returned to prevail in the 100 backstroke in 57.12 seconds to the 57.88 from the Warriors’ Jack Andrejko, also helping Weires, Ben Rabin and Eric Bang go 3:30.69 in the 400 freestyle relay.
Porter also took second in the 200 individual medly in 2:13.73, with Rabin third. Connor Gleasman earned 198.50 points in diving, closely behind the 205.45 from the Warriors’ Uriy Grabovyy.
Tuning up for Liverpool, F-M worked past Oswego 96-76 last Tuesday, mostly content with accumulating second and third-place points against the small Buccaneers roster.
Still, Jackson Matthews did finish first in the 100 freestyle in 1:03.73, while Nathan Walz went 5:56.29 in the 500 freestyle.
Aldana , Kligerman, Michael Magee and Carter Page, Miguel Aldana and Eli Kligerman took the 200 medley relay in 2:05.58. Gleasman, with 201.00 points in diving, trailed the 234.75 from the Bucs’ Jack Tonkin.
In between the two F-M meet, Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA returned to action last Thursday, against visiting West Genesee, and engineered a 104-82 victory over the Wildcats.
Conlan Rourke broke up a string of WG victories with a sweep of the sprints, going 23.51 seconds in the 50 freestyle ahead of Peter Hatton (24.20) and then winning the 100 freestyle in 51.22 seconds, with Hatton (54.66) third.
Together, Hatton, along with Nate Wales, Nathan Chen and Logan Roadarmel, rolled to 1:34.62 in the 200 freestyle relay to edge WG’s 1:35.24 as Chen was victorious in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.74.
In a diving showdown, Lucas Dekaney needed 307.15 points to fend off the Wildcats’ trio of Justin Byrne (261.70), David Puma (241.25) and Bryan Reichert (221.50).
Otherwise, J-D/CBA accumulated second and third-place finishes, with Wales a runner-up in the 500 freestyle and 200 freestyle, Bobby Diel second in the 200 IM, Chen second in the 100 breaststroke and Sam Bobrek second in the 100 backstroke.
Dekaney completed his week with another victory, this one at Saturday’s Burgos Memorial Diving Invitational.
Earning 477.95 points, Dekaney beat out Byrne (443.70) in second place. Gleasman finished seventh for F-M with 370.80 points as Jack Cahill was 12th and Sean Rigdon 24th for the Rams.
