SYRACUSE – Boys swimmers from Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool would battle for top honors during last Wednesday’s Section III Class A championships at Nottingham High School.
From a team standpoint, the Warriors, with 253 points, did best, taking third place just ahead of the 234 from the Northstars as Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA (365 points) pulled away from Fulton (264 points) for the team title.
However, it was C-NS’s Jacob Griffin having the finest individual showing as his swim in the 100-yard backstroke qualified him for next month’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship meet.
Having gone 55.39 seconds during the season in the 100 backstroke, Griffin needed 54.82 – and got it with ease, his 54.02 breaking a school record and trailing only the 52.13 from J-D/CBA standout Nathaniel Wales as Anthony Gabrielli was ninth in 59.98.
Later, in the 200 freestyle relay, C-NS also reached the state meet as Gabrielli, Jacob Griffin, Caden Griffin and Joey Swenton posted 1:29.92 to beat the 1:30.12 needed and just behind Fulton’s winning 1:29.67. Liverpool had Jack Cavallerano, Joe Lisi, Trevor Selig and Nate Alexander finish third in 1:30.77.
In the 50 freestyle, Jacob Griffin, in 22.26 seconds, was a close second to the 22.10 from Baldwinsville’s Mikey White as Caden Griffin was third in 22.41.
Moving to the 100 freestyle, it was Caden Griffin rising to second place, his 54.26 seconds behind Fulton’s T.J. Clayton, who won in 53.08.
C-NS almost got to the state meet in the 200 medley relay. Gabrielli, Swenton, Jacob Griffin and Caden Griffin finished third, their time of 1:40.72 just missing the 1:40.67 qualifying standard.
Swenton went on to finish second in the 200 individual medley in 2:05.29, not far from the winning 2:03.72 from Clayton, and added a fifth in the 100 breaststroke while setting yet another school record with 1:03.50.
Also for Liverpool, Alexander get second place in the 500 freestyle in 5:06.02, trailing only the 4:50.08 from J-D/CBA’s Misha Kabunov as he also finished fourth in the 200 freestyle in a season-best 1:49.95.
Colin Gridley picked up 435.80 points in diving, third right behind Fulton’s Will Patterson (437.45) as Central Square’s Truman Reminicky won with 502.60.
Cavallerano went 54.96 seconds in the 100 butterfly for third place and 22.65 to gain fifth place in the 50 freestyle. Lisi, an eighth-grader, impressed as he went a season-best 2:06 flat in the 200 IM to finish fourth and was seventh (1:05.83) in the 100 breaststroke. Selig swam to eighth in the 100 freestyle in 51.45 seconds.
To close out the meet, Liverpool’s 400 freestyle relay team of Cavallerano, Lisi, Selig and Alexander finished in 3:22.25, third behind J-D/CBA (3:16.55) and B’ville (3:19.26).
Two days later, in the sectional state qualifier, C-NS (190 points) beat out Liverpool (167) for fourth place and qualified two relay teams for the state meet.
That was the 200 medley relay side of Gabrielli, Swenton and the Griffin brothers, whose 1:39.17 beat the state standard by more than a second and led to a third-place finish behind J-D/CBA and Fulton. They also improved to 1:29.61 in the 200 freestyle relay, third behind Fulton and New Hartford.
Caden Griffin reached the state meet when he went 22.18 seconds in the 50 freestyle, tied for fourth as Griffin (22.10) shared second with White behind Oneida’s Andrew Hicks (21.83).
In the 100 butterfly, Caden Griffin was third in 54.25 seconds and Cavallerano fifth in a season-best 54.35, while in the 100 backstroke Jacob Griffin took third in 54.66. Swenton was third in the 200 IM in 2:03.61 and eighth in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.78) ahead of Donavan Medina’s ninth-place 1:05.37.
Liverpool had Alexander again take second in the 500 freestyle in 5:08.85, adding a sixth in the 200 freestyle in 1;52.61, with Lisi sixth in the 200 IM as he improoed to 2:05.46. Alexander, Lisi, Cavallerano and Selig were third in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:24.96 and fifth in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:30.91.
