Each time it competes, the Baldwinsville boys swim team seems to improve on what it has done before, almost relishing the chance to face elite competition and stay with them.
This especially proved true when the Bees went to Webster Aquatic Center, near Rochester, last Saturday and put up more sensational times during the Yeti Invitational, both on an individual and collective basis.
And the collective part involved two school records in relays that would both qualify those groups for March’s state championship meet at Ithaca College.
Alex Nicita, Mikey White, Matt Lange and Lucas Clay would start this by tearing through the 200-yard medley relay in one minute, 38.15 seconds, a new school mark and well clear of the 1:40.67 state qualifying standard. Pittsford won the race in 1:36.38 as the Bees finished fourth.relay in 1:38.15, a new school mark and well clear of the 1:40.67 state qualifying standard. Pittsford won the race in 1:36.38 as the Bees finished fourth.
That same quartet would then dazzle in the closing 400 freestyle relay, going 3:16.16, second only Frewsburg’s 3:13.51 and, again, bettering the state mark (3:18.87), this time by more than two seconds.
Lucas Clay would win twice. No one else in the 200-yard individual medley went below the two-minute mark as Clay’s 1:57.42 was well ahead of the second-place 2:00.93 from Rochester McQuaid’s Ian Miller.
Later in the meet, in the 100 breaststroke, only three swimmers broke the one minute mark and Clay led them, going 58.13, a season best, to top the 59.19 from Cameron Stetzer (Pittsford) and 59.95 from McQuaid’s Ben Hinds.
White almost won the 200 freestyle, his 1:43.45 a close second to Pittsford’s Cameron Stetzer (1:43.17), while he also took third in the 100 butterfly in 52.80 seconds as Pittsford’s Tim Fan won in 50.84 and Skaneateles’ Gavin Van Kersbergen (52.45) was second and qualified for the state meet.
Lange moved up to fifth place in the 100 backstroke in 55.18 seconds, two spots behind Van Kersbergen (54.65) as another Frewsburg swimmer, Conner Dean, won in 52.92/ Nicita finished 12th in the 50 freestyle in 23.62 seconds.
Back home three nights later to face Syracuse City, B’ville moved to 5-0, prevailing by a score of 48-41 as White joined Clay in breaking two minutes in the 200 IM, winning in a state meet-qualifying 1:58.82 as Jayden Miranda (2:19.11) was second.
A close 50 freestyle had Lange, in 23.26 seconds, beat the 23.56 from Syracuse’s Badr Aly, while Stever (23.75) was third. Later, in the 100 backstroke, Lange would get first place in 56.54 as Clay (58.55) finished second.
Nicita went 5:20.56 to claim the 500 freestyle and also was first in the 100 breaststroke, his 1:08.50 edging the 1:08.86 from Syracuse’s Sean Finnerty. Jayden Miranda, second in the 200 IM, would prevail in the 100 butterfly in 1:03.45.
Marco VanCour claimed first in the 200 freestyle in 2:05.22, with Kevin Milo second, Cole Dwyer third and Aiden Tallarico fourth. Ian Clay took second in the 100 freestyle in 58.56 seconds as Evan Beckwith finished third. B’ville also swept the 200 medley (1:50.57), 200 freestyle (1:43.87) and 400 freestyle (3:50.67) relays.
B’ville diver Alex Pompo capped off the week with a third-place finish in the Salt City Dive Invitational at Nottingham. Earning 434.75 points, Pompo only trailed Central Square’s Truman Reminicky (494.00) and Cicero-North Syracuse’s Nate Oromski (449.50).
Two regular-season meets remain, both on the road. B’ville meets C-NS next Wednesday at Nottingham before a highly-anticipated Jan. 23 duel with Liverpool that will likely decide the SCAC Metro division regular-season title.
