ITHACA – Completing a strong senior season, Liverpool boys swimmer Jack Cavallerano reached the medal podium in the 100-yard butterfly during last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Ithaca College.
Cavallerano entered the state meet as the no. 9 seed in the 100 butterfly with a best time of 50.47 seconds just ahead of the 50.85 from Skaneateles’ Gavin Van Kersbergen.
Topping his previous efforts, Cavallerano went 50.09 in the qualifying round to enter the finals in fourth place, just ahead of Van Kersbergen’s 50.36 which qualified him sixth.
Saturday’s state championship race was another landmark for Cavallerano. Posting 50.02 seconds he finished fourth, not far from the 49.53 needed for All-American consideration as Hoosic Valley’s Christian Jerome won in 48.04 and Van Kersbergen took eighth place with 50.56.
Also Cavallerano carried a top-15 time of 21.32 seconds in the 50 freestyle into the state meet. During Friday’s qualifying round, he improved to 21.30 and, in ninth place, was again in the main final.
Again peaking in Saturday’s finals, Cavallerano finished in 21.10 seconds tied with Matt Chang (Herricks) for seventh place just behind the sixth-place 21.01 put up by Fulton’s Logan Ames. Guilderland’s Isak Brkanovic earned the state championship in 20.52.
When Cavallaerano paired up with Ryan Hayden, Bryce Shutts and Sean O’Neil for the 200 medley relay looking to improve upon a 1:39.80 recorded during the season, they could only manage 1:43.06 and finished 31st.
Cicero-North Syracuse had divers Nate Ornoski and Carter Canastra on hand, with Ornoski’s 528.80 points from regular-season work making him the 10th-best qualifier, joining Baldwinsville’s Alex Pompo and Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA’s Cameron Corona in the top 10.
Cansatra went in at 15th place with 489.90 earned during the season and finished with 442.90 points here to get to to 11th place, just outside the top 10 and beating Ornoski’s 438.00 in 13th place. Pompo got to the podium with a fifth-place total of 516.80 points as Suffern’s Luke Leale was victorious with 570.40 points.
