ITHACA – Misha Kabunov hoped to bring home a pair of medals from Ithaca College, where the New York State Public High School Athletic Association boys swimming championships took place this weekend – and he did so, putting up tremendous performances in both the 200 and 500-yard freestyle events while vastly improving the times he had put together during the regular season.
Kabunov entered as the fourth seed in the 200-yard freestyle, having gone one minute, 42.49 seconds this season ahead of the 1:47.23 from Lesha Kabunov, who was also in the state meet.
While Lesha had a first-round 1:46.68, Misha improved to 1:41.69, the third-best time of the qualifier, setting him up to compete for the state championship a day later.
Again, Kabunov was superb, his 1:40.61 getting him all the way to third place, behind only the 1:39.46 by Clarkstown’s Luke Dwyer and 1:40.36 from Ward Melville’s Vinny Vinceguerra. Even better was seeing Lesha Kabunov improve upon his time to 1:45.63 and finish 21st.
Then there was the 500 freestyle, where Kabunov was a top-10 seed with his best regular-season time of 4:42.32, but he would really stand out in Ithaca.
During the qualifying round, Kabunov would tear to 4:35.49, nearly going seven seconds faster than he had earlier in the winter and, again, putting himself in the championship round.
While Kabunov’s 4:35.57 in Saturday’s finals didn’t quite match what he did on Friday, he still went to the awards podium in fifth place. Four Section I swimmers beat him, led by Horace Greeley’s Jack Cornish, who won it in 4:30.93.
In the diving competition, J-D/CBA’s Cameron Corona had a strong showing, too, making his way to 14th place with 401.40 points. Central Square’s Truman Reminicky finished fourth (459.10) and Baldwinsville’s Nicolas Pompo (415.75) was 10th.
