Cranbrook Swimmers Battle Brother Rice

It’s always a tricky thing to compete against an opponent that is a division ahead of you. Even more difficult if your opponent is up two divisions. Will the competition be enough to spur on your team? Or will the swimmers shut down due to the pressure and under-perform? So the Cranbook Kingswood Boys Swim and Dive team had their work cut out for them in Tuesday’s meet against Brother Rice, a Division 1 team. 

The anticipation was as thick as the poolside air.

Cranbrook and Brother Rice were neck and neck off the blocks and for the first two lengths of the 200y Medley Relay. The Cranes took the lead in the Breaststroke, but Brother Rice caught up in the Butterfly. It was a seesaw between CK and Brother Rice until the Freestyle, where Brother Rice took a solid lead. First went to the BR team of Blinstrub, Murrell, Lenhertz, and Krause, 1:41.23. Cranbrook’s Hogan, Liu, Chantadansuwon, and Pang touched for second, 1:43.07. The Brother Rice team of Michalzuk, Cooke, Jennings and Hosea nabbed third place, with a time of 1:47.67.

The 200y Freestyle was “even Steven” and splashy-speedy for the first leg. Kouvaris from Brother Rice pulled ahead, with Cranbrook’s Buccalo and Rice’s McFarlen within reach and Rice’s Becharas inching closer. Kouvaris kept his lead, with McFarlen and Becharas moving past Buccalo and nearly besting McFarlen in the final stages. Kouvaris: 1:49.81. McFarlen: 1:54.59.  Becharas: 1:54.88.  Buccalo: 1:55.35.

On to the 200y Individual Medley. Brother Rice’s Blinstrub was off to a good start in the Butterfly, ahead of teammate Michalzuk and Cranbrook’s Mooney.  Blinstrub’s lead grew in the Backstroke, and Michalzuk pulled slightly ahead of Mooney. That trend continued, and in the end, it was Blinstrub (2:03.55), Michalzuk (2:04.44) and Mooney (2:09.13) for 1,2,3. In the process, Mooney not only grabbed third, but came in well under the state qualifying time of 2:12.29. That makes 12 for the state team so far.

The churn of the 50y Freestyle and the tightness of the pack made finding the leader a challenge for the first leg. The Warrior’s Krause splashed into first, with a 21.98.  Fellow Warrior Patrick Nodland was not far behind at 22.54. Matthew Liu of the Cranes touched for third, with a 23.43. 

From the fury of the 50 Free to the poise of diving. Always a nice change of pace. As with the swimming, the event began with Cranes and Warriors in a tight heat. But diving was off to a bit of a slow start, with dives in the middle twenties. For the Cranes, Grant Glover’s best dive of the night was a 202 A, back somersault in the pike position with a degree of difficulty of 1.7 (30.6 points). Unfortunately, he had a missed dive as well.

Best dive for the Cranes' Ray Gagliardi was a 403C, an inward 1 ½ somersault in the tuck position, degree of difficulty 2.2 (29.7 points). Despite several solid dives by Ray and Grant, they were unable to top some very well done dives by Brother Rice’s Chris D’Angelo and Kahlil DuPerry. Kahlil’s best dive of the night was a 403C (38.5 points).  Chris’ best was a 105C, a forward 2 ½ somersault in the tuck position, degree of difficulty 2.2 (45.6 points). Chris D’Angelo managed first place, with 177.25. Fellow Warrior Kahlil DuPerry was nearby with 173.45.  Grant Glover of Cranbrook was third with 148.5, and Ray Gagliardi finished up in fourth with 89.3.

Back to swimming with the 100y Butterfly, which began with the Cranes and Warriors in a tight field. The Cranes Chantadansuwon and the Warriors’ Kouvaris and Murrell had the lead, and it was too close to call early on. Murrell pulled ahead and brought Kouvaris with him, moving ahead of Chantadansuwon. In the end, it was Murrell (55.48), Kouvaris (55.79) and Chantadansuwon (57.02). 

The 100y Freestyle started quickly, with splits in the 23s and 24s. Brother Rice had the lead, with Patrick Nodland up front, Cranbrook’s Hogan in second and Rice’s Lehnertz in third. Nodland maintained his lead, finishing with a 50 flat.  Lehnertz pulled ahead in the last leg, touching for a 51.45. ahead of Hogan’s 52.03. 

Now for the smoothness of the 500y Freestyle. Cranbrook’s Ben Schneider started with a bang, and kept the lead for several laps. He kept pace with Brother Rice’s Hosea and Jennings until just over half way, where he slowed slightly. Even with slowing a bit, he managed third with a 5:04.59, behind Hosea’s 4:55.38 and Jennings’ 4:58.06.

Enough of individual events, let’s have a relay. The 200y Freestyle Relay. Rice’s team of Krause, Kouvaris, Murrell, and Jennings took the lead and never looked back, their lead growing to over two body lengths, wrapping up with a 1:32.73.  Cranbrook’s team of Frankie Misra, Stefan Withrow, Chantadansuwon, and Pang and teammates Burton, Guttilla, Buccalo and Jon Withrow kept pace with Brother Rice’s Becharas, DuPerry, Wick and Chris Nodland.  Frankie Misra, Stefan Withrow, Chantadansuwon, and Pang hit the wall with a 1:35.82, besting Becharas, DuPerry, Wick and Chris Nodland’s 1:37.99.

That’s enough relay for now, back to the back. 100y Backstroke. Blinstrub from Brother Rice had the lead straight away, about a body length ahead by the end of the first lap.  Fellow Warrior Lenhertz and Cranes Tattrie, Liu and Hogan vied for second. Blinstrub finished with a 56.33. Liu and Hogan hung on to second and third, Liu coming in at 56.78 and Hogan at 59.54. Adding to the excitement of the heat was Tattrie’s state qualifying finish of 1:00.58.That makes it lucky 13 for the Crane’s state team.

Branigan added another state cut to his arsenal, with a 1:05.47 in the 100y Breaststroke, good enough for a third place spot. Teammate Jon Withrow finished at 1:05.45, just barely out-touched Branigan.

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The coveted 400y Freestyle Relay. Another tight grouping early on, with Cranbrook’s Mooney pulling ahead of the pack in lane 6. They had a slight edge over Rice’s Becharas in lane 5.  Cranbrook’s Buccalo took to the water after Mooney, trying to keep the lead.  Rice’s Hosea had other ideas and edged ahead slightly in lane 5. Not to be outdone, the Crane’s Frankie Misra and Stefan Withrow in lane 4 were in the thick of it. Rice moved ahead, and Kouvaris moved them further into the lead in lane 5. Back in lane 6, Guttilla kept the Cranes in second, while in lane 4, Liu pulled close. Brother Rice’s Krause was last to hit the water in lane 5, driving them further ahead of the pack. Schneider splashed in last in lane 6, pulling just ahead of Hogan in lane 4. Rice maintained the lead and finished first in lane 5 (3:26.04), Cranbrook took second in lane 6 (3:31.13) and third in lane 4 (3:31.69). Both Cranbrook teams finished with state qualifying cuts.

Despite the added state qualifiers and state cuts, the Cranes were not able to pull out a win. But any disappointment about the loss was brightened by the team’s excitement over adding two more swimmers to the state team and having several finishes well below state  qualifying times. Swell to have that boost as the regular season winds down.

This update was provided by Patch readers Carolyn Stevens and Jo Sikora, Cranbrook parents that volunteer time to distribute swim team media releases.

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