CENTRAL NEW YORK – Finally back in action in 2023, the Liverpool boys swim team had to work hard to stay undefeated.
Meeting Fayetteville-Manlius Tuesday night at Cazenovia College, the Warriors found itself battling until the final race of the night before claiming a 95.5-89.5 decision over the Hornets.
The margin was just four points, 87.5-83.5, going into the closing 400-yard freestyle relay, but with Jack Cavallerano, Ryan Gublo, Sean O’Neil and Nathan Alexander finishing in three minutes, 36.84 seconds, Liverpool took first in that race and clinched the meet.
Already, Cavallerano had won the 50 freestyle in 22.76 seconds, going 1-2-3 with O’Neil (24.75) third and Solomon Panayil second in 24.67. In the 100 backstroke, Cavallerano’s 1:00.78 edged the 1:01.77 from F-M’s James Cao.
Alexander also won twice, needing 1:55.65 to dominate the 200 freestyle and then taking the 100 freestyle in 52.90 seconds to Cao’s 53.56.
Joe Lisi also gained a pair of titles, his time 2:11.57 beating James Hayden (2:17.83) in the 200 individual medley before winning the 500 freestyle in 5:17.75, more than half a minute ahead of the field.
Colin Gridley rolled to a diving title with 249.40 points. Ryan Gublo was a close second (1:12.89) to Anthony Bottar (1:12.60) in the 100 breaststroke, with Hayden’s 59.98 in the 100 butterfly just behind Max Vidakovic’s 59.91 for F-M.
Cicero-North Syracuse also swam last Tuesday night at West Genesee and got plenty of top individual performances, even if its lack of roster depth meant a 97-85 loss to the Wildcats.
Jacob Griffin swam the 200 individual medley in 2:17.70 to beat WG’s Ryan Goshow (2:22.06) and, later, was victorious in the 100 backstroke in 58.24 seconds to Goshow’s 1:03.30.
Pulling away in the 50 freestyle, Caden Griffin prevailed in 23.58 seconds and then dominated the 100 freestyle, too, winning in 51.41.
Nathan Oronski, in a close diving competition, needed 246.40 points to beat out the Wildcats’ Ethan Martin (235.75) for the top spot as Carter Canastra was third with 213.45. Anthony Gabrielli took the 100 butterfly in 1:04.84.
Donavan Medina, Reece Balduzzi and the Griffins went 1:51.65 in the 200 medley relay to claim that race before Grifin joined Aaron Purdy, Ryan Lasher and Anthony Gabrielli to edge WG by one-hundredth of a second, 1:45.43 to 1:45.44, in the 200 freestyle relay.
Then both C-NS and Liverpool made appearances in last Friday’s Griffin Sprint Invitational at Nottingham.
To lead the Northstars, Joey Swenton nearly won the 100 breaststroke, his 1:04.62 only trailing the 1:03.68 from Oneida’s Sun-Jin Shah, followed by a 50 breaststroke where Swenton’s 29.44 was again runner-up to Shah, who went 29.14 as Donavan Medina (30.65) finished eighth.
Swenton added a fifth in the 100 individual medley in 59.63. In 25.56, Jacob Griffin got second to Skaneateles’ Gavin Van Kersbergen (25.14) in the rarely-contested 50 backstroke. Caden Griffin got third in the 100 butterfly in 56.56 and sixth in the 25 freestyle in 10.74.
In the 200 medley relay, Swenton and Gabrielli helped the Griffins get to third in 1:44.11. Cavallerano, Lisi, Alexander and O’Neil had Liverpool fourth in 1:48.44.
Cavallerano was sixth in the 50 freestyle in 23.11 seconds and fifth in the 100 backstroke in 1:01.06. Colin Gridley had 384.60 points for seventh place in diving. Lisi took eighthin the 100 IM in 1:01.16 and Alexander was 11th in the 100 freestyle in 53.20.