CENTRAL NEW YORK – Already with experience in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association diving championships, Nick Pompo is going back there in 2025.
Pompo, the Baldwinsville senior, locked up his berth at March’s NYSPHSAA meet at Ithaca College with his convincing victory in the Dec. 27 Mexico Holiday Dive Meet.
A series of superb dives helped Pompo produce 510.70 points, well clear of the 450-point NYSPHSAA standard. He beat out Cicero-North Syracuse’s Nate Ornoski, whose 465.30 also qualified him for the state meet as the Northstars’ Carter Canastra was third with 409.45 and Chris Koegel fourth with 401.80.
Exactly one week later, Pompo and his B’ville teammates took their 4-0 record to Nottingham High School for a first-place SCAC Metro division showdown against 3-0 Fayetteville-Manlius.
The Hornets won it, topping the Bees 94-81 largely on the basis of its depth as it piled up top-four finishes, swept the top two in the 200-yard medley relay and had Jack Prendergast win both the 200 and 500-yard freestyle races.
But B’ville would have its share of individual success, including Pompo, who dominated the diving competition as his 336.25 points more than doubled any F-M rival.
Alex Nicita won twice, pulling away in the 200 individual medley as his 2:07.51 nearly 10 seconds ahead of F-M’s Ben Prendergast (2:16.72), followed by a 100 freestyle where Nicita won in 50.78 seconds to the 52.76 of the Hornets’ Derick Wang.
Alex Atherton would claim the 100 butterfly in 59.66 seconds to top the 1:01.46 of F-M’s Vlad Roman, while Adrian Clay beat the field in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.03.
Elsewehre, Atherton finished second in the 200 freestyle in 2:00.31, with Clay third in the 50 freestyle in 24.81 seconds. Owen Nizar’s 1:03.13 in the 100 backstroke was second to James Cao’s 1:01.66.
Marco VanCour went 5:36.68 for third place in the 500 freestyle, also joining Nicita, Clay and Atherton to swim the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.07 second to F-M’s 1:35.81, In the 400 freestyle relay Nizar, Atherton, Nicita and VanCour finished in 3:49.30.
