SYRACUSE –
A strong season full of growth and milestones for the Baldwinsville boys swim team culminated with a fair amount of success attained during the Section III championships at Nottingham High School.
And it all culminated with what Mikey White did during Friday’s state qualifier, twice earning fast-enough times in the sprint races to earn a trip to Ithaca College for the March 4-5 state championships.
Entering the 50-yard freestyle, White had gone 22.24 seconds this season, but needed 22.19. He easily reached that total and, in 21.94, made it to second place, just behind the winning 21.84 from Cicero-North Syracuse’s Jacob Griffin.
Later, in the 100 freestyle, a qualifying time of 48.76 seconds was required. White had gone 49.11 before, but here he improved on that mark by more than a second.
Finishing in 48.50 seconds, White would join three other swimmers in advancing. Griffin won in 48.24, with Fulton’s Bryce Rogers going 48.47 and Rome Free Academy’s Dominick Gratch posting 48.76.
Two days earlier, in the sectional Class A meet, the Bees were victorious in the 200-yard freestyle relay, thanks to the quartet of White, Ben Webster, Harrison Meyers and Matt Lange.
Through 150 yards, B’ville, getting strong legs from Webster, Meyers and Lange, found itself even with Liverpool, but White, over the last 50 yards, was able to move out in front and stay there.
Finishing in 1:31.95 the Bees won by nearly two seconds over Cicero-North Syracuse, who passed Liverpool to get second in 1:33.06 as the Warriors (1:33.08) were third. B’ville improved to 1:31.90 in the state qualifier, but took fourth behind C-NS, Mexico and New Hartford.
In the 50 freestyle, White posted 22.24 seconds, behind Griffin (21.86) and Gratch (21.96), while Webster was ninth in 23.77, improving to 23.57 in the state qualifier to take 12th place.
White put up 49.11 seconds in the Class A 100 freestyle, again trailing Griffin (48.11) and Gratch (48.13) at the wall. Lange made his way to fifth place in 51.52 as Webster took seventh in 52.79 (he would improve to 52.30 in the state qualifier for 13th place) and Meyers was 10th in 53.93.
In the final Class A race, the 400 freestyle relay, White, Webster, Lange and Meyers paired up again and, rallying late, got to second place in 3:24.20, behind only Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA’s winning 3:20.99. This same group would go 3:24.84 to finish fifth in the state qualifier.
Meyers finished sixth in the Class A 200 individual medley in 2:13 flat, with Lange earning sixth place in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.02 as Trevor Kantak finished 11th in 1:05.10.
In the Class A 200 medley relay, the Bees’ quartet of Alex Lamkoski, Keenan Smith, Brennan Gruppe and Alex Nicita took eighth place in 1:58.82. Nicita took 13th in the 500 freestyle in 5:41.81 as Lucas Clay was 14th in the 200 freestyle in 2:05.53.
