DEWITT – When the Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy boys swim team welcomed Fayetteville-Manlius Friday night, it did so just 24 hours removed from its biggest win of the season so far.
In a clash of undefeated sides, the Red Rams hosted Fulton and, led once more by the top duo of Nathaniel Wales and Misha Kabunov, toppled the Red Raiders 99-87.
It was Kabunov gaining the first individual win for J-D/CBA in an exciting 200-yard individual medley, his time of two minutes, 1.56 seconds just enough to hold off Fulton star T.J. Clayton, who posted 2:03.96.
A far more lopsided win came in the 500 freestyle, where Kabunov sped to a time of 4:48.56, not quite matching his season-best 4:46.42 but still more than a minute ahead of anyone else.
As for Wales, he had his own classic battle in the 100 freestyle against Red Raiders standout Bryce Rogers. Even with Rogers going 48.63 seconds to set a state qualifying standard, Wales held him off, winning in a season-best 48.17.
And in his specialty, the 100 backstroke, Wales roared to a time of 52.92 that topped Fulton’s Chris Mandart (56.87), Wales having gone 51.81 earlier this season and ranked in the state top 10.
In 22.61 seconds, Mark Bratslavsky pulled away from Logan Ames (23.45) in the 50 freestyle as Cameron Corona earned 246.75 points in diving to edge the 231.95 from Fulton’s Will Patterson as Sean Rigdon (223.80) and Garrett Fuller (213.50) also performed well.
To close out the meet, Wales, Bratslavsky, Kabunov and Luke Marino went 3:21.36 in the 400 freestyle relay as Lesha Kabunov, in 55.58 seconds, was runner-up to Clayton’s state-qualifying 53.33 in the 100 butterfly. Jamey Turo was second in the 200 freestyle in 1:59.86 and Lucien Zens swam the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.81.
Then, in the F-M meet, J-D/CBA accumulated an insurmountable lead in the early races and went on to defeat the Hornets by a score of 97-87.’
Sweeping the sprints, Bratslavsky went 22.70 seconds in the 50 freestyle and 51.18 to pull away from F-M’s James Cao (53.09) and take the 100 freestyle.
Wales would dominate the 200 IM, winning in 2:06.19, while Misha Kabunov took his turn in the 100 backstroke and, in 1:00.12, was ahead of Cao’s 1:02.65.
In 1:53.65, Lesha Kabunov went 1-2 with Marino (1:59.73) in the 200 freestyle before Marino won the 100 butterfly in 59.26 seconds, just ahead of Max Vidakovic (59.76) in the runner-up spot for the Hornets.
A close 100 breaststroke had Lesha Kabunov, in 1:10.96, top Anthony Bottar’s 1:10.98 after a 1-2-3 diving sweep where Corona, with 245.45 points, edged Fuller (239.85) and Rigdon (226.85).
Sweeping the relays, the Rams had Eli Wasserman join Bratslavsky, Wales and Misha Kabunov in the 200 medley (1:49.35). Marino and Wales joined the Kabunovs to go 1:34.76 in the 200 freestyle relay as Lesha Kabunov, with Marino, Bratslavsky and Wales, swam the 400 freestyle relay in 3:33.37.
