The Boys Varsity Swimming and Diving team travelled to Suffolk County to face powerhouse West Islip recently. Led by senior captains Connor Burke, James Farrington, Paul Giglio, Joe McCabe, Steve Makropoulos, Victor Quijano and Bobby Zeno, the Dalers came from behind to win 94-88. Coached by Ken Ilchuk, Randy Corcoran and Kelly Harris, Farmingdale was led by first place finishes by junior Greg Carman in the 200 Freestyle, senior Gary Alaimo in Diving, Farrington in the 500 Freestyle and junior Joe Scaglione in the 50 and 100 Freestyle.
Strong performances were also turned in by Quijano in the 200 Freestyle, McCabe in the 50 and 100 Freestyle, senior Kyle Young in Diving, Giglio in the 100 Butterfly, freshman Vlad Surmenko and junior Mike Zelasny in the 100 Backstroke and freshman Kris Harris in the 100 Breaststroke. All three relay teams swam well and helped lead the Dalers to victory.
The boys then traveled to Plainview to face their Conference II rival. The meet was held at Plainview’s middle school, which only has four competitive lanes and does not accommodate diving. This setting clearly hurt the bigger, deeper Farmingdale team, who also has three accomplished divers.
Flashback for one moment to the Lady Daler season. At this same pool the Lady Dalers suffered a crushing four-point defeat to Plainview, which cost them a Conference II title. Unfortunately, the boys endured the same fate against Plainview. Without diving and with four events decided by a referee’s calls, the Dalers fell 54-40. Make no mistake this was a competitive contest, but without points for diving and points for forth and fifth place in each event, one could not help flashing back to the girls meet and feeling that having the meet at Plainview’s middle school was not cleverly designed and planned.
Since these dual meets are usually not electronically timed, a judge’s decision is a determination made by the referee based upon his view of the finish of the race. To have this occur four times in one meet indicates how close these two teams were matched against each other. To have all four decisions go in favor of Plainview was disappointing.
Highlights included the 200 Medley Relay team of Scaglione, Harris, Giglio and McCabe finishing second on a judge’s decision, Carman finishing first in the 200 Freestyle and second in the 100 Freestyle on a judge’s decision, Scaglione and McCabe swimming to a first and second place finish in the 50 Freestyle, senior Yeimer Bran swimming a best time in the 100 Butterfly, Farrington winning the 500 Freestyle with Quijano close behind finishing second, Kris Harris finishing third in the 100 Breaststroke on a judge’s decision, the 200 Freestyle team of McCabe, Carman, junior Tom Gelbach and Scaglione finishing first and the 400 Freestyle Relay team of Farrington, senior Connor Burke, Quijano and Carman swimming to a second place finish on another judge’s decision.
Next up for the boys is a meet against Port Washington, at which the Dalers will try to rebound from their recent defeat. You can follow Farmingdale’s Swimming and Diving Team on www.Section8swimming.com.
