CENTRAL NEW YORK – Misha Kabunov and Nathaniel Wales put together tremendous individual performances that helped the Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy boys swim team remain undefeated.
The Red Rams’ 96-84 victory over Cicero-North Syracuse Wednesday at Nottingham High School saw Kabunov qualify for March’s state championship meet in the 500-meter freestyle.
With his time of four minutes, 46.42 seconds, Kabunov easily surpassed the state qualifying standard of 4:52.52, with plenty of time this winter to go even quicker.
As for Nathaniel Wales, he nearly reached the state standard in the 100 freestyle, finishing in 48.78 seconds (the mark is 48.76) while pulling away from C-NS star Jacob Griffin (51.64) to prevail.
Wales had already gone 1:52.48 in the 200 freestyle to win that event and, later in the meet, would pair with Misha Kabunov, Lesha Kabunov and Mark Bratslavsky to win the 200 freestyle relay in a season-best 1:32.73. Brastlavsky, Wales, Luke Marino and Lesha Kabunov took the 400 freestyle relay in 3:26.63.
On his own, Bratslavsky won the 50 freestyle in 22.95 seconds to the 23.26 from the Northstars’ Caden Griffin, while Misha Kabunov went 2:11.60 in the 200 individual medley and Jamey Turo took the 100 backstroke in 1:00.63. Lesha Kabunov was second in the 100 butterfly in 58.53 seconds.
The Rams also had a 1-2 finish in diving as Cameron Corona, earning 240.05 points, held off the 224.05 from Garrett Fuller.
As this went on, Fayetteville-Manlius was at Auburn, handling the Maroons 98-70 to bounce back after it lost to C-NS on Dec. 13.
The Hornets made up for Auburn’s success in individual events with a string of second and third-place finishes, showcasing its superior depth.
Eli Kligerman, in 2:06.50, went 1-2 with Nathan Walz (2:08.94) in the 200 freestyle, with Ben Mathews making his way to first place in the 500 freestyle in 5:55.51.
A top-three sweep in the 100 backstroke had Carter Page, in 1:02.47, ahead of James Cao (1:03.25) and Ben Pendergast (1:10.09) as, in the 100 breaststroke, Anthony Bottar’s 1:14.89 edged Derick Wang (1:17.64) and Vlad Roman (1:19.32).
The meet started with Page, Bottar, Max Vidakovic and Jack Antshel taking the 200 medley relay in 1:53.88 as Vidakovic also took second in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly. Wang got second in the 50 freestyle in 25.22 seconds, with Cao the runner-up in the 100 freestyle in 55.39.
