ONONDAGA COUNTY – All the focus for the Liverpool boys swim team will soon turn to Baldwinsville and the Jan. 23 showdown that will likely determine the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division regular-season championship.
Still, the Warriors had to win all the meets leading up to it, and continued to do so Tuesday against West Genesee, easing its way to a 100-81 victory over the Wildcats.
Three different individuals – Jack Cavallerano, Joey Lisi and Nate Alexander – won two individual events apiece, Cavallerano doing so by beating Sean O’Neil, 22.56 seconds to 24.07, in the 50-yard freestyle and then winning the 100 backstroke in 56.71.
Lisi needed 1:05.61 to hold off WG’s David Martin (1:06.88) in the 100 breaststroke after dominating the 100 butterfly, his time of 54.92 seconds more than 11 seconds ahead of any of his rivals.
Swimming in the 200 individual medley, Alexander claimed a close duel with James Hayden, 2:15.90 to Hayden’s 2:16.76, and then was victorious in the 100 freestyle in 50.66 seconds, again with O’Neil second in 52.35.
Bryce Shutts was active early in the meet, holding off Ryan Vann, 2:02.58 to 2:04.52, in the 200 freestyle after he had helped Hayden, Vann and Tristen Vang get first in the 200 medley relay in 1:52.37 to WG’s 1:54.15.
But Vann would have his moment in an exciting 500 freestyle, winning in 5:31.05, barely ahead of the 5:31.26 from Shutts as Colin Gridley picked up 262.10 points on the diving board.
Working together, Cavallerano, Lisi, Alexander and O’Neil won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:32.90, while in the 400 freestyle relay that same quartet posted 3:34.65.
That same night at Nottingham High School Cicero-North Syracuse met up with Fayetteville-Manlius, got two wins apiece from Jake and Caden Griffin along with a diving sweep – and still lost 99-85 to the Hornets.
F-M prevailed because it earned nine second-place finishes to the Northstars, which made up for C-NS claiming seven of 12 events, including what the Griffins did.
Jake Griffin went 2:13.94 to win the 200 IM over the 2:19.41 from the Hornets’ Ben Prendergast as Leo Alexander was third in 2:23.39. Then, in the 100 backstroke, Griffin’s time of 56.38 was the only one under a minute, Ryan Lasher getting third in 1:05.25.
For his part, Caden Griffin swept the sprints, taking the 50 freestyle in 23.07 seconds to hold off F-M’s James Cao (23.30) before going to the 100 freestyle and, in 50.87, easily topped the 52.66 from Cao and 53.39 from Derick Wang.
A diving sweep was led by Nate Ornoski, whose total of 267.45 points qualified him for the Class A sectional meet as Carter Canastra was second with 222.95 points and Chris Koegel (180.05) was third.
C-NS only won of the three relays, doing so in the 200 medley in 1:50.02 to the 1:59.94 from F-M. Brandon Keil was third in the 200 freestyle in 2:01.71 and third in the 100 butterfly in 1:01.24 ahead of Alexander’s 1:02.24 in fourth place. Reece Balduzzi was fourth in the 100 breaststroke.
