ONONDAGA COUNTY – Twice in a span of 24 hours the Liverpool boys swim team would compete and would win both meets, capping it off last Friday with a big 91-88 victory over Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy.
Going to J-D Middle School for this meet, Liverpool found itself trailing the Red Rams 85-81 going into the final race on the card, the 400-yard freestyle relay.
But with its top quartet posting a time of three minutes 33.36 seconds, Liverpool beat out the 3:36.12 from J-D/CBA, earning eight points to the Rams’ four, and added two points for third place to get the team victory.
Before all this, Liverpool got the meet going by winning the 200 medley relay in 1:46.01 well ahead of J-D/CBA’s 1:53.14, and then the individual stars went to work.
In the 50 freestyle Jack Cavallerano blazed to victory in 22.17 seconds with Sean O’Neil, in 23.52, edging the Ram’s Jonas Sarmast (23.65) for second place and James Hayden fourth in 24.23.
An even better race unfolded in the 100 butterfly, Cavallerano needing 52.78 seconds to edge the 52.96 from J-D/CBA standout Lesha Kabunov, both of them state-qualfying times.
O’Neil returned in the 100 freestyle for another 1-2 Liverpool finish, this time winning with 51.05 seconds as Bryce Shutts got the runner-up spot in 54.05.
Despite this, Liverpool faced a large deficit until it swept the top four in the 100 breaststroke led by Ryan Vann taking it in 1:10.62. Jake Knapp was second with 1:11.78 ahead of Hayden (1:14.31) and Jonah Keyes (1:19.20) in fourth place.
Dean Seckner finished second in the 500 freestyle in 6:06.75 though well back of Kabunov’s 4:57.60 as Liverpool was second in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:43.29.
Lincoln Cowan gained third place in the 200 individual medley posting 2:33.53 as Vann took third (1:59.17) and Shutts fourth (1:59.68) in the 200 freestyle, with Leo Encarnacion third and Jimmy Bui fourth in the 100 backstroke.
A day earlier, Liverpool faced Syracuse City and won by a far bigger margin, 100-46, with Cavallerano taking the 50 freestyle in 22.26 seconds to O’Neil’s 23.17 and going 50.59 in the 100 freestyle to win there, too.
Hayden took his turn winning the 100 butterfly in 55.86 seconds and then swam the 100 backstroke in 59.15 to hold off Shutts’ 59.85, while Cowan won the 200 IM in 2:30.49 edging Knapp’s 2:31.31 and Seckner was first in the 500 freestyle in 6:08.78. Vann pulled away in the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.03, Knapp going 1:17.12 as Keyes posted 1:18.05 and Cowan 1:18.52.