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By John Kaemmerlen January 16, 2005 - The Fairport swimming and
diving team were tested last week, swimming 2 meets in 3 days vs. Pittsford
and Penfield. These two contests pitted 3 of the best 5 high school teams in
New York State against each other.
First, Fairport hosted Pittsford before a full house of enthusiastic fans.
The meet opened with the foursome of Jerry Woytash, Jake Fisher, Hans Feng,
and Jim Beaudry finishing 2nd in the 200 yard medley relay in 1:45.45 in a
close race. Peter Koenig, Chris Razavi, Tim Jacobs, and Dylan Scheemaker
placed 4th. Jeff Wood overpowered the field in the 200 yard freestyle with a
1:44.10 swim, Aram Salehi following in 4th in 1:55.83 and Woytash 5th in
1:56.06. Fisher swam a solid 2:05.94 time in the 200 yard individual medley,
good for 2nd place. Razavi was 5th in 2:11.20 and Connor Harrington 6th in
2:25.84.
Jeff Kaemmerlen dominated the 50 yard freestyle with a fast 22.48 second
victory. Beaudry was 5th and Scheemaker 6th in the sprint event. At this
point, Pittsford held a 12 point lead, but the diving duo of Pat Dineen and
Eric Hallimen came up huge with a 1-2 sweep, closing the score to 43-35.
Their scores were 184.05 and 168.30 points respectively, both season's best
and very impressive given the pressure of the situation.
Feng overtook Pittsford's three butterflyers with a key win in the 100 yard
event in a solid 56.63 seconds. Koenig and Harrington placed 5th and 6th.
The next event had the crowd screaming for both teams. Wood held off
Pittsford's Brian Possee in the 100 yard freestyle as they swam the two
fastest times in NY state this year. Wood's winning time was a Fairport pool
record 47.39 seconds. Beaudry was 4th in 51.86 and George Wasickanin 6th in
56.68.
Woytash provided the next win by holding off 3 Pittsford swimmers in the
distance event, the 500 yard freestyle, with a nice 5:11.26 swim. Salehi and
Jacobs placed 5th and 6th. Next up was the 200 yard freestyle relay, always
the highest energy event in a close meet. Kaemmerlen, Beaudry, Salehi and
Wood gutted out a 0.12 second win with 1:31.19 swim, #2 in the state this
year. Scheemaker, Koenig, Wasickanin, and Jacobs placed 4th.
Kaemmerlen earned his 2nd win with an easy victory in the 100 yard
backstroke in 55.84 seconds. Koenig was 5th in 1:02.97, and Nate Morales was
6th in 1:12.87. Fisher continued his season long dominance in the 100 yard
breaststroke with a 1:02.61 victory. The Red Raiders also got impressive
swims from Feng finishing 2nd in 1:03.66, and Razavi 4th in 1:06.99. This
closed the gap to 88-84 going into the last event.
Fairport needed to finish 1-3 in the 400 freestyle relay to win the meet.
Coach Mike Kennedy chose his two foursomes strategically and four of
Fairport's 8 swimmers swam best times, but their 1-4 finish meant a 94-92
Pittsford victory. Wood, Salehi, Feng, and Woytash earned the win, and
Scheemaker, Jacobs, Kaemmerlen, and Fisher were 4th.
Fairport won 10 of the 12 events against a very deep Pittsford team, and
swam a phenomenal 33 best times out of 54 swims. After the meet, Coach Mike
Kennedy said "I thought we showed a lot of character. Even after the 50
free, when were 10 points down, we just kept working to close the gap, but
couldn't get quite enough for the win."
Two days later the Red Raiders traveled to Penfield for the next challenge.
Last year Penfield beat Fairport for the first time ever and they were eager
to do it again. Many Fairport supporters were in the Penfield bleachers to
cheer the Red Raiders.
The Red Raiders opened with a powerful win in the 200 yard medley relay.
Wood, Fisher, Feng, and Kaemmerlen swam a 1:39.07 time, breaking the pool
record Fairport set last year, and posting the state's top time. Woytash,
Razavi, Koenig, and Salehi swam well and gained 3rd, their critical points
giving Fairport a 10-4 lead to open the meet.
The 200 freestyle results were Woytash 2nd in 1:56.50, Jacobs 4th in
1:59.50, and Salehi 5th in 2:00.10. Wood set another Penfield pool record in
the 200 yard individual medley, winning in 1:57.53. More key points were
produced by Fisher in 3rd in 2:06.09, and Harrington 5th in 2:25.24.
Kaemmerlen was barely beaten in the 50 freestyle, taking 2nd in 22.68,
followed by Beaudry in 4th in 24.30 and Scheemaker 5th in 24.86.
At this point the Red Raider lead was a narrow 34-28 score, but the divers
stepped up again, their 1-2 finish stretching the lead to 10 points. Both
divers had 6 solid dives, Dineen winning with 176.05 points and Hallimen 2nd
with 162.00.
Feng, Koenig, and Harrington placed 2-4-5 in the 100 yard butterfly. Their
times were 56.53, 1:04.59, and 1:06.15 respectively. Kaemmerlen finished 2nd
again in the 100 yard freestyle in another very tight race in a time of
49.66. Beaudry was 4th in 52.48, and Scheemaker 5th in 55.79. In the 500
yard freestyle Salehi placed 2nd in 5:16.72, Woytash 3rd in 5:17.09, and
Jacobs was 6th in 5:35.84.
Penfield swam the state's best time this year in the 200 yard freestyle
relay to win it, but Kaemmerlen, Beaudry, Feng and Wood placed 2nd, and
Scheemaker, Wasickanin, Jacobs, and Koenig secured the critical #3 spot.
Fairport's lead was now a slim 71-69.
Wood added to his impressive list of outstanding swims this year with a 100
yard backstroke win in another Penfield pool record time of 53.26 seconds.
Fairport's depth also showed again with Razavi placing 3rd 1:02.41 and
Koenig 4th 1:03.14. In the 100 yard breaststroke, Fisher placed 2nd in
1:01.23, the state's #3 time this year, beaten only by the Penfield
swimmer's #1 time. Feng was 3rd in a solid 1:04.00, and Razavi was 5th in
1:09.79.
Fairport's lead was now a slightly more comfortable 6 points, and a 2nd
place finish in the last event would produce the win. Beaudry, Salehi,
Woytash and Fisher got it done in the 400 yard freestyle relay, and
Scheemaker, Jacobs, Wasickanin, and Morales provided a cushion with their #3
swim to close out an exciting 96-90 victory.
After the Penfield meet, Coach Kennedy said "I am proud of our team. Some
people expected Penfield to win, but we stayed positive throughout, and for
us to come back with this performance just two days after the tough
Pittsford meet and beat a top state team is tremendous." Fairport's record
is now 7-1.
Pertinent Links
2005 Team
Pittsford
Meet
Penfield Meet
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