LIVERPOOL – All the work that the Fayetteville-Manlius boys swim team has done the last few years culminated in what it did on Friday afternoon.
The undefeated Hornets took down the area’s long-time dominant program, Liverpool, in a 93-90 decision just two days after Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy lost to the Warriors by that exact same margin.
In F-M’s case, its victory was built upon strong finishes in every race, a couple of timely sweeps and enough depth to withstand Liverpool’s star power.
After dropping the first three events, the Hornets gained its first win when Lucas Weires swam the 50-yard freestyle in 22.60 seconds, half a second ahead of the 23.10 from the Warriors’ Ian Denny.
Then, in the diving competition, Connor Gleasman’s 245.60 points put him on top and Michael Magee’s 197.45 points helped him beat Liverpool’s Colin Gridley (184.75) for second place.
F-M also would go 1-2 in the 100 butterly, Weires puling away to a quick time of 54.09 seconds. Just as important was having Jason Porter, in 58.21 seconds, edge the Warriors’ Geoff Race (58.25) for second-place points.
The Hornets took the lead for good midway through the meet and reinforced it when Eli Kligerman (5:24.56), Nathan Walz (5:41.58) and Max Vidakovic (5:58.88) took the next three spots in the 500 freestyle behind the 5:23.68 from Liverpool’s Nathan Alexander.
It continued into the 200 freestyle relay, with Weires, Ben Rabin, Erich Omans and Eric Bang going 1:32.29 to top Liverpool’s 1:33.74. Already, Bang had finished second in the 200 freestyle in 1:57.04.
Up 71-66, F-M could only hang on if it filled the placements in the remaining races – which it did.
It was Carter Page second (1:01.48) and Vidakovic third (1:05.45) in the 100 backstroke, while Rabin took second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.69, trailing Liverpool star Griffin Merkling, who won that race in 59.97 seconds after he had torn through the 200 individual medley in 1:59.61.
Leading 87-82 with only the 400 freestyle relay left, F-M sealed the victory when Weires, Omans, Bang and Porter went 3:26.16, just behind Liverpool’s 3:24.74, while Kligerman, Walz, Cooper Hughes and Eddie Elliott got third place in 3:47.15.
Before all this, J-D/CBA got close to its own win over Liverpool. Nathaniel Wales played a big part, starting with a 200-yard freestyle where, in 1:52.94, he easily beat out the 2:00.36 from Alexander.
Then, in the 500 freestyle, Wales went 5:17.74 to win, again with Alexander (5:36.06) in the runner-up spot as Mike Bratslavsky finished third in 5:55.41.
Nathan Chen, second in the 50 freestyle in 23.76 seconds to Jack Andrejko’s 23.40, pulled in front in the 100 breaststroke, where he posted 1:08.81 and Emmanuel Ignacio (1:12.65) edged the Warriors’ Chase Parry (1:12.80) to give the Rams a 1-2 finish.
Bobby Diel pulled away in the 200 IM to prevail in 2:117.17. Jack Cahill added a victory in diving with 229.89 points, and in the 200 freestyle relay Chen and Wales, joined by Mike and Mark Bratslavsky, won in 1:34.11 to Liverpool’s 1:36.33.
Jamey Turo, in 1:01.28, was second in the 100 backstroke behind Merkling, who tore to a time of 51.79 seconds in his specialty after he won the 100 butterfly in 56.28 seconds.
Despite this, J-D/CBA led 86-83 going into the closing 400 freestyle relay, where Wales, Luke Marino, Mike Brtaslavsky and Gehrig Snyder finished in 3:35.51, but the Warriors got a first-place 3:31.49 and also had the third-place time of 3:41.30 to get the clinching points.
