Liverpool, C-NS swimmers win

by PhiL bLACkWELL

On the last day of January, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys swim teams would battle one another as the Warriors would finish its regular season at home.

They did so coming off wins last week as Liverpool, rebounding from its first loss of the season Jan. 18 against Fulton, handled Syracuse City 100-75 last Thursday night.

Several races featured close battles between teammates, such as the 50-yard freestyle, where Jack Cavallerano, in 23.08 seconds, had to hold off the 23.19 from Trevor Selig before he dominated the 100 butterfly, winning in 55.70.

James Hayden needed 2:02.73 to edge past Ryan Vann (2:04.33) and win the 200 freestyle, while in the 100 freestyle it was Nathan Alexander, in 52.45 seconds, topping Sean O’Neil (53.41) and Solomon Panayil (54.61).

Pulling away in the 500 freestyle, Hayden added a second title in 5:34.58, with Vann second in 5:45.96. Colin Gridley earned 229.30 points to take the diving competition.

Joe Lisi, in 2:09.44, led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 individual medley with Ryan Gublo (2:20.34) and Tristan Vang (2:24.84), with Lisi also going 1:08.26 just behind Syracuse’s Badr Aly (1:05.32) in the 100 breaststroke.

Cavallerano, Selig, Alexander and Lisi went 1:34.20 in the 200 freestyle relay to go with the 3:41.10 they posted in the 400 freestyle relay.

In the 200 medley relay, Vang, Panayil, Jared Keyes and Rex Hoffman won in 1:56.62.

Two nights earlier, C-NS took a 2-4 record into its meet at Oswego, where a pair of 1-2 finishes from Jacob and Caden Griffin keyed the Northstars’ 94-83 win over the Buccaneers.

Swimming together in the 200 freestyle, it was Caden Griffin, in 1:57.97, beating out

Jacob Griffin’s 2:00.01. Later, in the 500 freestyle, again Caden was first, posting 5:32.87 to Jacob’s 5:36.51. Similarly, Nathan Oronski, in diving, earned 210.05 points and Carter Canastra was second with 192.05. Ryan Lasher got second in the 100 backstroke in 1:09.32, with Bryson Duncan third in 1:13.45.

Joey Swenton, in 24.56 seconds, trailed Oswego’s Shane Bond (24.00) in the 50 freestyle as Donavan Medina swam the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.37 to a 1:06.30 from the Bucs’ Treyse Miller, with Reece Balduzzi (1:16.66) third.

Connor Burke, who in 2:24.66 beat out Medina (2:26.66) for second in the 200 IM, paired with Medina, plus Swenton and Anthony Gabrielli, to win the 200 medley relay in 1:53.45 to Oswego’s 1:56.03. Helped by the Griffins, Gabrielli and Burke powered the 200 freestyle relay to a lopsided win in 1:40.08.

Then C-NS defeated Auburn 87-82 last Friday night, with Jacob Griffin going 22.69 seconds to beat Gabrielli (24.49) in the 50 freestyle and then swimming the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.17 to beat Burke’s 1:12.93.

Gabrielli was victorious in the 100 backstroke in 1:02.99, with Swenton going 2:14.31 in the 200 IM and 52.97 for a close second to Riley Fitzgerald (52.88) in the 100 freestyle.

Caden Griffin went 1:54.86 to hold off Fitzgerald (1:55.94) in the 200 freestyle, this after Swenton, Gabrielli, Medina and Jacob Griffin swam the 200 medley relay in 1:46.43. Gabrielli, Burke and the Griffins took the 400 freestyle relay in 3:44.26 as Burke, Medina, Sean Loughlin and Caden Griffin went 1:41.75 in the 200 freestyle relay.

After its meet with Liverpool, C-NS faces Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA on Friday to close its regular season.

Gonzales reaches state wrestling final

by PhiL bLACkWELL

Prior to 2023, girls wrestlers in New York State had no tournament to call their own. That changed last Friday at SRC Arena when more than 200 wrestlers gathered for the inaugural New York State Public High School Athletic Association Girls Invitational. And among the competitors was Liverpool freshman Gabby Gonzales, who, not content with her status as a program pioneer, nearly won the first-ever state title handed out at 154 pounds. In the opening round of the 16-wrestler tournament, Gonzales faced Shaker’s Elizabeth Williamson and pinned her in two minutes, 30 seconds.

Moving to the quarterfinals, Gonzales again got a pin, taking 3:34 to finish off Liberty’s Zoe Kip, leading to a semifinal where, against Waverly’s Elon a Holmes, Gonzales won when Holmes had to default due to injury.

All that was left was a state final against a far more experienced wrestler, Shenendehowa senior Isabella Gretzinger. To her credit, Gonzales lasted all six minutes, though Gretzinger prevailed 13-1. Two months of victories and historical milestones had led the Cicero-North Syracuse wrestling team to SRC Arena to face its toughest and most important competition of all.

The Northstars were part of last Saturday’s NYSPHSAA Division I Dual Meet, having earned the spot by winning the sectional Dual Meet title for the first time on Jan. 19. As it turned out, C-NS’s stay was brief. It fell 54-18 to Starpoint in the opening round and 37-16 to Fairport in the next round, Starpoint going on beat Minisink Valley 35-27 for the championship as Section III’s Central Valley Academy reached the Division II final but lost to Tioga.

As C-NS now prepared to host this Saturday’s sectional Class AA championships, Liverpool prepared to join them after it beat

Liverpool freshman Gabby Gonzales finished second at 154 pounds behind Shenendehowa’s isabella Gretzinger.

Cazenovia 54-21 last Tuesday at Buckley Gym, and while nearly half the points came from forfeits, there was also some mat success, too. Owen Atchie, at 172 pounds, pinned John Fowler early in the second period, right before Joe Piscitelli (189 pounds) had a third-period fall over Exazander Sizmer and Jayce Blilss, at 215 pounds, pinned Kaleb Hurley just as the first period concluded. In less than two minutes, Matthews Bonato-Borges (132 pounds) pinned Bryce Odessa after a 126-pound bout where Samir Amiri pinned Finnegan Smith in the second period. Paolo Munetz (102), Gavin Connelly (118), Connor Kral (160) and Keegan Meyer (285) got those forfeits.