Heading into Thursday night’s Section Five Class D Swimming and Diving Finals at Gates-Chili HS in Gates, NY, Harley Allendale Columbia (HAC) and defending champion Campbell-Savona were all but tied after the preliminaries, setting up an exciting finals meet. Campbell-Savona won two relays and two individual events, but HAC’s depth proved too much as they swam away with the 2020 title. HAC scored 330 points, edging Campbell Savona by 17 as the Panthers finished with 313. Last year, Campbell Savona derailed HAC’s quest for three straight Class D sectional titles in a row, edging the Wolves 287 to 280.
HAC’s lone event win came from Sam Gilbert in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.80) as he came from behind to out-touch Canisteo-Greenwood’s Tommy Booth by two hundredths of a second. The Wolves depth led them to victory as they had four entries score points in both diving and the 500 free, three in the 100 back and two in four other events. Andrea Bosa placed second in the 500 free (5:12.92) and fourth in the 200 free (1:55.15), while Ryan Chapados was second in the 100 back (1:00.11) and third in the 200 free (1:54.66). All three of HAC’s relays placed top four or better.
The Panthers were led by Caine Taft who won the 50 free (21.79) and 100 free (48.91) for Campbell Savona. Taft was also part of both winning relays for the Panthers as he teamed up with Alex Feldman, Jacob Sullivan and Joel Vanskiver to win the 200 medley and 200 free relays. For his fantastic performances in the meet, Taft was named 2020 Class D Swimmer of the Meet as he totaled four victories.
York’s Brett Lubberts was a triple winner, placing first in the 200 free (1:48.06) and 100 butterfly (54.20), then capping his high school career by leading off York’s victorious 400 free relay (Shane Bryan, Owen Sidhu and Chalmers Wolcott). Lima Christian’s Shane Welch was a double winner as he raced to first place in the 200 IM (2:05.02) and 500 free (4:55.60).
Alex Kenyon from Bloomfield won the Class D diving event last week for the third year in a row, setting a new Class D record this year with a total of 607.00 points. His score earned him a spot in the New York state meet. HAC’s Kasi Natarajan (552.45) and Elina Natarajan (490.25) finished second and third respectively and will also be attending the New York State meet.
Campbell Savona’s Bob Loveless was selected the 2020 Section Five Class D Swimming and Diving Coach of the Year by his fellow Class D coaches for the third year in a row.
The 2020 New York State Swim meet will be contested on March 6 and 7 at Nassau County Aquatic Center in Long Island, NY.
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