SYRACUSE – Not long after the George Falwell Cup was established, in 2008 the combined Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy boys swim team won it for the first time.
It took 15 years for the Red Rams to reclaim that prize, doing so at the end of an undefeated season that also saw it earn the Section III Class A championship.
When all the scores were tallied from Friday’s state qualifier at Nottingham High School, J-D/CBA had 281 points to the 241 from runner-up New Hartford, the sectional Class B/C team champions. Fulton was third with 214 points.
Sophomore Misha Kabunov was named the Outstanding Swimmer of the meet by taking part in four different winning efforts for the Rams.
It began when Kabunov joined Nathaniel Wales, Lesha Kabunov and Mark Bratslavsky to go one minute, 37.28 seconds and win the 200-yard medley relay, holding off Fulton’s 1:37.83.
Right after, in the 200 freestyle, Kabunov won again, his 1:45.01 more than two seconds clear of Fulton’s Bryce Rogers (1:47.17) and a prelude to the 500 freestyle, which Kabunov dominated with 4:45.10 that put him 16th in the state rankings in that event.
And at meet’s end, it was Kabunov joining Wales, Bratslavsky and Luke Marino as they put up a winning 3:15.66 that also landed them in the state top 20 as Baldwinsville (3:18.44) was second.
Wales also was dominant in his specialty, the 100 backstroke, a time of 51.54 seconds putting him 12th in the state rankings after he won the 100 freestyle in 46.68, 15th best in the state.
Bratslavsky also made it to the March 3-4 state meet at Ithaca College in the 50 freestyle, his time of 22.18 seconds just beating the state standard of 22.19 and tying Cicero-North Syracuse’s Caden Griffin for fourth place. Manlius Pebble Hill swimmer Tae-Jin Shah was eighth in 22.86.
Lesha Kabunov made his way to fourth place in the 200 individual medley in a season-best 2:03.70, with MPH’s Sun-Jin Shah getting seventh place in 2:05.96 to go with a fifth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.14. Kabunov, in 55.01 seconds, beat out Marino (55.60) for fifth place in the 100 butterfly.
Back in the sectional Class C meet last Wednesday, MPH saw Ruby Butler, Rainbow Butler and the Shah brothers finish second in the 200 medley relay in 1:52.75.
Sun-Jin Shah won the 200 IM in 2:05.71, with Ruby Butler sixth to go with a fourth in the 100 backstroke as Shah also was victorious in the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.02.
Tae-Jin Shah, third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.14, was second (22.64) to Weedsport’s Nolan Carter (22.43) in the 50 freestyle as Rainbow Butler was eighth in the 100 butterfly. Both Shahs and both Butlers paired again in the 200 freestyle relay, getting third place in a season-best 1:39 flat.
Fayetteville-Manlius finished eighth at the state qualifier with 100 points, doing best in the 400 freestyle relay, where Max Vidakovic, Eli Kligerman, James Cao and Jack Antshel were sixth in 3:32.38.
Kligerman, Antshel, Ben Mathews and Derick Wang were eighth in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:33.48, with Carter Page 10th in the 100 backstroke in 58.37 seconds after he helped Vidkaovic, Wang and Anthony Bottar get ninth in the 200 medley relay in 1:45.82.
