SYRACUSE – No stretch of the regular season proved as pivotal for the Baldwinsville boys swim team as what happened in the 24 hours before and during its victory over Cicero-North Syracuse.
By the time the Bees were set to face the Northstars Wednesday night, it was the only remaining unbeaten side in the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division, courtesy of Fayetteville-Manlius, who knocked off previously undefeated Liverpool 98-88.
In a competitive meet at Nottingham High School, B’ville won the first three events on the card, piled up points elsewhere and went on prevail 95-88 over C-NS.
Setting the tone, the Bees’ 200-yard medley relay team of Jayden Miranda, Lucas Clay, Mikey White and Cole Dwyer finished in one minute, 46.93 seconds to pull away from the Northstars’ 1:57.13.
Then, in the 200 freestyle, Clay won in 1:48.97 and Matt Lange took second in 1:55.03. Following that up, Miranda set a new season mark in the 200 individual medley, his 2:18.71 beating Leo Alexander’s 2:24.07.
Following some C-NS success in the middle of the meet, White starred in the 500 freestyle, his 4:48.97 easily surpassing the state qualifying standard of 4:52.52 even though it’s far from his specialty.
A second title for Lucas Clay came when he won the 100 backstroke in 57.01 seconds before a top-four sweep in the 100 breaststroke clinched it, White winning in 1:02.41 over Alex Nicita’s 1:08.67 as Ethan Gramiak was third in 1:13.19 and Ian Clay (1:13.96) got fourth place.
With a 3:26.57 from Nicita, Lange, White and Lucas Clay in the 400 freestyle relay, B’ville closed out a meet where, in a diving battle, Nick Pompo put up 245.90 points to qualify for the Section III Class A meet, just behind the 256.70 from C-NS’s Nate Ornoski.
B’ville was coming off an appearance Jan. 12 and 13 in the Griffin Sprint Meet at Nottingham High School, where, in the simultaneous Salt City Dive Invitational, Pompo finished third, his 434.75 points not far from the 450-point standard needed to qualify for the state meet.
In the 50-yard butterfly, Lucas Clay posted 25.05 seconds, beaten out by Skaneateles standout Gavin Van Kersbergen (23.81), who would also get first in the 100 individual medley in 55.54, edging Clay’s 55.84, while in the 25 freestyle Clay splashed to third place in 10.76.
White, for his part, had a 100 freestyle of 48.80 seconds that was second as Weedsport’s Nolan Craner (48.01) won it, and his 53.13 in the 100 butterfly beat everyone except Liverpool’s Jack Cavallerano, who sped to 51.98 Also, White took third in the 50 freestyle in 22.28 seconds, not far from the winning 22.18 from Fulton’s Logan Ames.
Lange’s 57.66 seconds in the 100 backstroke trailed only a quick 54.90 from Jake Griffin, with Lange adding a third in the 50 backstroke in 26.86.
But Clay, White, Lange and Nicita paired up to go 1:31.63 in the 200 freestyle relay, pulling way to win nearly seven seconds clear of West Genesee’s 1:37.58. Nicita got seventh in the 50 breaststroke in 31.79 seconds.
The win over C-NS meant that just one meet stood between B’ville a perfect regular season – its trip to Liverpool on Tuesday with the league regular-season title at stake.
