ONONDAGA COUNTY – Leave it to the Fayetteville-Manlius boys swim team to upend the Salt City Athletic Conference regular-season championship race.
It was the Hornets going to Liverpool Tuesday and, with a large string of second and third-place finishes, prevailing 98-88 over the Warriors, dropping it out of a tie for first place with Baldwinsville.
Liverpool won eight of the 13 events, but the Hornets claimed two of the three relays, starting with the 200 medley, where James Cao, Anthony Bottar, Ben Prendergast and Derick Wang went one minute, 49.80 seconds, well clear of the Warriors’ 1:54.60.
Right after that came a 200 freestyle classic. Eli Kligerman and Nate Alexander managed to pull off a dead heat, both finishing with the exact same time of 1:54.40, but it was the Hornets’ Jack Prendergast third and Ben Mathews fourth.
Wang was victorious in the 50 freestyle, his 23.75 seconds ahead of the Warriors’ Sean O’Neil (24.17) as Vlad Roman was third (25.04) for the Hornets to go with a second in the 100 freestyle in a season-beat 55.99.
Finally, in the 100 breaststroke it was Bottar in front, putting up 1:09.68 to hold off Liverpool’s Tristan Vang (1:10.85) or second place.
Ben Prendergast added a second in the 200 individual medley in 2:15.72, close behind Liverpool’s James Hayden 2:15.31). Oliver Gleasman, second in diving with 179.95 points, beat out Connor Cuddy in third and Neil Adamski in fourth.
Kligerman, in 5:25.56, edged Mathews (5:25.94) for second place in the 500 freestyle right before a pivotal 200 frestyle relay where Kligerman, Wang, Ben Prendergast and Steve Wratney, in 1:36.36, edged Liverpool’s 1:35.50.
Cao added a second in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.45, with Zach Winans third and Zach Mangoba fourth for more F-M points.
Top individuals from F-M and Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy stood out Jan. 12 and 13 in the Griffin Sprint Meet at Nottingham, which also served as the Salt City Dive Invitational where the Red Rams’ Cameron Corona finished fourth with 432.05 points and Garrett Fuller (355.25) was eighth.
J-D/CBA’s Misha Kabunov won a close 100 breaststroke, 1:04.07 to the 1:04.66 from West Genesee’s David Martin as Lucien Zens was third in 1:06.46. He also was third in the 100 freestyle in 48.99 seconds.
The Rams were second in the 200 medley relay in 1:49.33 as Kyler Huyck took fourth in the 100 backstroke in 1:01.92 and fifth in the 50 backstroke in 28.79 seconds. Lesha Kabunova was seventh in the 25 freestyle in 11.08 and Matt Capella finished eighth in the 50 butterfly in 28.01.
