SYRACUSE – Though just a freshman, Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy boys swimmer Misha Kubanov has quickly emerged as one of the area’s brightest talents.
And Kubanov reached another milestone when he qualified for March’s state championship meet in the 500-yard freestyle during Friday’s Salt City Athletic Conference Invitational at Nottingham High School.
Quickly pulling away from his challengers, Kubanov didn’t let up until he had posted a time of four minutes, 51.10 seconds, clearing the state qualifying standard of 4:52.52 by more than a second.
This followed a 200 freestyle where J-D/CBA had a top-three sweep. In 1:48.34, Misha Kubanov neared the state qualifying time (1:47.60) as Nathaniel Wales was second in 1:50.48 and eighth-grader Lesha Kubanov (1:55.76) was third.
For his part, Wales beat the field in the 100 backstroke in a season-best 55.35 seconds, nearing the state qualifying mark of 54.82 as Jamey Turo was third in 1:01.06, beating out Lesha Kubanov (1:01.40) in fourth.
And in the closing race, the 400 freestyle relay, Wales and Misha Kubanov paired with Mark Bratslavsky and Luke Marino to win in 3:24.51, well clear of Baldwinsville’s second-place 3:31.98.
In the 200 individual medley, Bobby Diel got third place in 2:12.62, with Luke Marino seventh. Diel also was third in the 100 butterfly in 59.68 seconds, while Lucas Holmquist was seventh.
Diel, Holmquist, Kyler Huyck and Gehrig Snyder were fourth in the 200 medley relay in 1:52.34, with the Red Rams fifth in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.51
Bratslavsky got fourth place in the 50 freestyle in 22.89 seconds and, in the 100 freestyle, he took fifth in 52.03. Lucien Zens took seventh in the 500 freestyle, with Holmquist seventh in the 100 breaststroke.
Before this, J-D/CBA improved to 8-0 on the season last Tuesday night at New Hartford, with the trio of Wales, Bratslavsky and Misha Kubanov all playing prominent roles in a 95-88 victory over the Spartans.
Wales would beat out Bratslavsky, 51.33 seconds to 52.41, in the 100-yard freestyle before moving to the 100 backstroke and claiming that race in 58.65 seconds to Jamey Turo’s second-place 1:01.87 as Kyler Huyck (1:03.24) finished third.
In the 200 freestyle, Misha Kubanov’s time of 1:53.47 was well clear of the 1:59.03 from Lesha Kubanov, and Misha also would excel in the 500 freestyle, prevailing in 5:02.47 as Lucian Zens (5:44.67) got second place.
Bratslavsky would go 23.49 seconds in the 50 freestyle, topping the 23.99 from New Hartford’s Mateo Ripa, while Diel won the 200 individual medley in 2:15.86 and was second in the 100 butterfly, his 59.34 seconds just behind the 59.22 from the Spartans’ Hassan Mousad.
Wales, Bratslavsky, Kubanov and Marino worked together to swim the 400 freestyle relay in 3:37.39. In diving, Sean Rigdon’s 204.95 points edged Cameron Corona (203.40) and Garrett Fuller (201.45) as New Hartford’s Patrick Scott amassed 262.55 points.
