Amyot Leads Fairport Past Pittsford

PITTSFORD, N.Y. - Forgive Mark Morris for almost feeling as though the sectional swim meet is right around the corner.

The Pittsford coach sent his team to the starting blocks for two Monroe County League swim meets last week, suffered a 102-84 loss to Fairport on Thursday and has a date next week with Webster, the league's rising power. It's the kind of stretch that top teams usually endure in late January, not mid-December.

"These big meets are closer together than we would like," Morris said in reference to next Tuesday's meet with Webster.

The key, though, is whether the meets themselves are closer. Pittsford (3-1) is limping along at less than its usual standards, with only two seniors on the team and versatile star Evan Koenig still not at full strength following back problems. Come sectionals, though, Pittsford can be expected to be right back in the championship hunt.

The problem is that for the first time in three years Pittsford will play the role of the hunter rather than the hunted. Fairport, the state swimming scene's 800-pound gorilla for 15 years beginning in the early 1980s, ended a two-year losing streak to Pittsford by capturing eight of 12 events before a full house at Pittsford Mendon High School.

The Red Raiders, 3-0 in the state's toughest league, were paced by Gavin Stark's sweep of the freestyle sprints and triumphs by E.J. Amyot in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breaststroke.

"We were shocked and a little disappointed when we found out this meet was so early in the season," said Amyot, who also swam on two winning relays. "Neither team was totally ready for this. We had an equal number of practices, but neither team was really ready for it."

Still, the performances were strong. Luke Weniger of Pittsford went 1:49.68 to win the 200 freestyle and teammate Brian Hunter covered the 500 free in 4:57.59. Pacing Fairport were Amyot's 1:59.67 in the 200 IM, Stark's :22.35 in the 50 free and junior diver Pete Crane's score of 243.65.

For good measure, Amyot came back to win the breaststroke in 1:00.60 as he continues to prepare for defense of his New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship. This is Amyot's sixth varsity season, but the first in which he is without dispute a target at which others are aiming.

"I know they're out there," he said of the competition. "It's good to know that they're there and that they'll be pushing you. But you don't want the young kids to beat you."

Amyot said he felt he'd made the jump from the wading pool to the big water as a freshman, winning the 100 breaststroke at the sectional meet the year that Section 5 took the top six places in that event at the state meet.

He's been a big point producer since, and his presence makes it impossible to discount Fairport's odds of winning its 19th sectional team championship in 20 years in February. It would be Amyot's fifth team patch, and he says you can't beat the feeling of going out and doing your very best against the best.

"I love being a competitor and being around these guys," he said. "My best friends are swimmers, and I can't imagine not being in the water."

When the triumph over Pittsford was complete, about the only Red Raider not in the water was coach Mike Kennedy, who helped create the Fairport legacy as a five-year varsity swimmer in the 1980s. Kennedy suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament while playing softball and was using a wheelchair while deckside.

He has an appreciation for Amyot's sustained excellence, which is reflected in two individual and four relay championships over the last three sectional meets.

"You have to have goals and understand who you are," said Kennedy, whose former Fairport teammate Rick Aronberg is Amyot's club-team coach. "You also have to work hard in practice but have fun doing it. I always had good people around me, with leadership and good seniors, and E.J. has had that around him, too."

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