LIVERPOOL – They didn’t wait too long to bring the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys swim teams together for their head-to-head meet in the 2021-22 regular season.
Facing each other Thursday night, the Warriors and Northstars both claimed plenty of individual races, though it was Liverpool that emerged with more points and prevailed 98-81.
It was Nathan Alexander winning twice for the Warriors as he swam the 200-yard freestyle in two minutes, 1.10 seconds and then went 5:36.38 in the 500 freestyle, going 1-2 with Collin White (5:59.99).
Also claiming a pair of races, Liverpool’s Jack Cavallerano would swim the 100 butterfly in 55.67 seconds to top the 58.06 from C-NS’s Caden Griffin as, in the 100 backstroke, Cavallerano needed 1:00.56 to hold off the 1:01.49 from the Northstars’ Anthony Gabrielli, who also was second in the 200 freestyle.
Colin Gridley, with 187.55 points, prevailed in diving as Alexander and Cavellerano paired with Geoff Race and Trevor Selig to take first in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:40.74.
A far closer 200 freestyle relay had that same Warriors quartet go 1:36.22, which was needed since C-NS had Griffin, Connor Burke, Jake Kubala and Noah Ritchie post 1:37.57.
But the Northstars had prevailed in the 200 medley relay to start the meet, having Kubala, Burke, Caden Griffin and Jacob Griffin blaze to a time of 1:45.38.
Burke went from there to edging Caden Griffin, 2:20.02 to 2:21.91, in the 200 individual medley while, in the 100 breaststroke, Burke, in 1:12.33, held off teammate Donovan Medina (1:12.34) by one-hundredth of a second.
Quick in the 100 freestyle, Jacob Griffin prevailed in 50.41 seconds, with Kubala third in 54.45 as Selig (52.06) was second. Noah Mingolelli finished second in diving.
This busy C-NS stretch had started back on Dec. 10 against Fayetteville-Manlius at the Cazenovia College pool, where the Northstars lost 96-83 to the Hornets.
Kubala, Gabrielli, Medina and Jacob Griffin won the 200 medley relay in 1:50.28. In the 50 freestyle, Kubala, in 24.01 seconds, beat the 24.67 from Eddie Elliott, with Griffin getting his turn as he won the 100 freestyle in a quick 50.99 seconds.
Later in the meet, Medina would go 1:13.54 for first-place points in the 100 breaststroke, and C-NS would also grab the 200 freestyle relay where Kubala, Burke, Jacob Griffin and Caden Griffin went 1:36.37 to F-M’s 1:38.36.
Facing Syracuse City at Nottingham last Tuesday night, the Northstars were able to prevail by a score of 94-82, led by Kubala, who took the 50 freestyle in 24.54 seconds and 100 freestyle in 56.35 seconds.
Jacob Griffin flew through the 100 backstroke in 57.73 seconds after he had taken the 200 individual medley in 2:12.05, with Caden Griffin going 58.91 seconds to edge Syracuse’s Badh Hamad (59.38) in the 100 butterfly.
Not only did Gabrielli win the 200 freestyle in 2:05.74, he paired with Kubala, Griffin and Burke to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.44 as Burke was second and Gabrielli third in the 500 freestyle. Kubala, Burke and the Griffin brothers had a quick 1:47.60 in the 200 medley relay.
Liverpool, meanwhile, was hosting West Genesee and getting its first meet victory of the season, rolling past the Willdcats 99-72.
Selig led the way for the Warriors, getting first place in the 50 freestyle in 23.53 seconds and also going 53.89 seconds to win the 100 freestyle as Sean O’Neil, second in that race, beat the field in the 200 freestyle in 2:08.20.
Cavallerano tore to a time of 57.90 seconds in the 100 butterfly after Gridley picked up 210.85 points in diving, with Cavallerano also posting the quickest time of 1:02.63 in the 100 backstroke.
Ryan Gublo was first in the 200 individual medley in 2:28.90 and topped the field in the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.55 as Alexander swam the 500 freestyle in 5:32.39 for another first-place finish.
To open the meet, Cavallerano, Gublo, Alexander and Tristan Vang won the 200 medley relay in 1:54.36 as, in the 200 freestyle relay, Selig, Vang, Collin White and Alex Hoffman won in 1:50.29.
