OSWEGO, NY – Drake Becksted shattered pool records while boys’ hockey and girls’ basketball prepped for post season play in recent Oswego High School sports action.
The OHS varsity basketball team wound up the season with a win as did boys’ and girls’ jayvee fives.
Meanwhile, the girls’ track team and wrestling team had solid individual performances including an upcoming trip to the state tournament for bowler Jamie Cliff.
The seventh grade girls remain perfect after seven games.
Becksted Breaks Records
The Oswego boys’ swimming and diving participated in the Section III Swimming and Diving Championships at the Nottingham.
The highlight of the meet was Drake Becksted being named “Swimmer of the Meet.â€Â
Drake was honored due to the fact that he broke two pool records, one of which had stood since 1989 and the other since 1992.
Of the 24 teams that participated, the Bucs took seventh place.
By swimming a 21.10 in the 50 Freestyle, Drake not only set a new school record but set a new meet record in event. The old record had been standing since 1989.
Also in the 100 Freestyle, Drake set his second meet record by swimming a 46.67.
He is headed to the New State Championship on Feb. 26 and 27 at Erie Community College in Western New York.
Coach Rick Klein said, “Each of the members of the team had personal best performances.”
Starting the meet for the Bucs was the Medley Relay team of Luke Familo, Geoff Taylor, Zak Handley and Josh Saternow.
In the 200 Freestyle Reeve Callen dropped three seconds, swimming a 1:49.32 in the event. Zach Gerber’ 2:19.82 and Zak Handley’s 2:26.44 were also personal best performances and kept the Bucs in the hunt for a good finishing position.
In the diving event, Brian Semione seemed to be dancing in the air and had a personal best performance and placed fourth.
Zak Handley performance in the 100 butterfly, 1:05.04 continues the Bucs streak of personal best performances.
In the 100 Freestyle, Luke Familo took two seconds off his previous best time.
The 200 freestyle team of Drake Becksted, Zak Handley, Zach Gerber and Reeve Callen dropped some time in the event and placed sixth for the Bucs.
The marathon of swimming events the 500 Freestyle the Buc swimmers of Josh Saternow, 5:53.63 and Reeve Callen, 5:05.75 scored points for the team.
As the backstrokers exited the water the string of personal best performances continued.
Jeremy Galvin 1:07.56 and Luke Familo 1:02.66 had personal best times. Geoff Taylor dropped four seconds in his performance of the 100 breaststroke while Zach Gerber’s 1:13.50 was right on his best time.
The 400 Freestyle team of Reeve Callen, Luke Familo, Zach Gerber, and Drake Becksted led the heat and finished eight seconds ahead of their previous time.
Coaches Klein and Morgan were very happy with the outcome of the teams’ performances.
Klein said, “The boys have been practicing very hard and it is nice for them to get the results from their hard work.â€Â
Bowlers Finish Up in Sectionals
The Oswego High boys’ bowling team finished eighth out of 28 teams overall and fifth out of twelve teams in Class “A†in sectionals this past Sunday in Utica.
The boys were in third place overall after the morning “15 individual†game session and first in Class “A.â€Â
After the first five team games in the afternoon session the boys were fifth overall and second in their class. The boys held on to fifth overall and second in their class after ten team games before eventually ending up eighth overall and fifth in Class “A†at the end of the day.
Individually, Matt Salvador placed twelfth out of 130 bowlers while Jaime Cliff was sixteenth and Cameron Byrne thirtieth from the morning session.
Salvador had a 642 in three individual games while Cliff tallied a 635, Byrne 611, Matt Clemons 572 and Gavin Gilbert 481.
Senior Jaime Cliff who led the CNY Counties League American Division in average will be part of the Section III “all star†team to compete in the state tournament on March 6-7 in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Parker Stands Out At Championships
The Oswego girls’ indoor track team, turned in an outstanding performance at the CNYCL Colonial American Track and Field Championships, held Monday evening on the fast Manley Field House oval.
“The girls did a super job, turning in many personal best efforts and performances.†said Coach Jim McCaul.
Senior standout Eliza Parker, one of the top sprinters and hurdlers in the section, earned two league titles for the Lady Bucs.
Parker shattered her previous best in the 300 meter dash, with an outstanding time of 43.44, to outdistance the field.
Her season best time of 8.97 in the 55 meter hurdles, earned her first place.
She also ran the second leg on Oswego’s talented 4 x 200 meter relay of Alexis Files, Whitney Ford and Rachel Healy, whose fast season best time of 1:56.3, earned them third place.
Three relay members earned personal best splits in the race.
Much improved sophomore Ford jumped a personal best of 15′ 6 1/2″ in the long jump, to finish third overall. This performance earns Ford a berth in the upcoming State Meet Qualifier.
She also ran a personal best of 8.05 in the 55 meter dash to place fifth.
Files lowered her previous best in the 300 meter dash to 45.03, to place first in her heat, and fifth overall, in a very competitive race.
Other strong performances were turned in by the Lady Bucs fifth place 4 x 400 meter relay of Courtney Gazda, Kaylie Allen, Pia Sterner, Rachel Healy and junior Michelle Champagne, who earned sixth place in the 1000 meter run.
Oswego will close out a very successful season on Feb. 25 returning to Manley Field House for the Section III State Meet Qualifier, in hopes of earning a berth in the upcoming state track and field championships, to be held on March 6, at Cornell University.
Varsity Girls’ Win Again
The Oswego High School girls’ varsity basketball team romped to a 57-29 win over Rome Free Academy in the final regular season game.
Brooke Reifinger buried 18 points while Michele Canale scored 11 as the lone double figure scorers.
Oswego jumped to a 12-7 lead in the first quarter and RFA kept it interesting until midway through the second quarter.
The Bucs moved to a commanding 33-20 halftime edge and pulled away as the defense clamped down on the visitors in the second half.
Michaela Auer and Amber Earl scored seven for the Bucs while Katie Abramski and Lindsay Johnson each netted four.
Alexis Gillard, Sarah Hill and Courtney Lewis had two each.
It was senior night for the Lady Bucs as players recognized for their contributions to OHS basketball included Michele Canale, Marissa Canale, Katie Abramski, Brooke Reifinger, Sarah Hill, Lindsay Johnson and Amber Earl.
The girls are moving to the first round of the Section III Tournament at Fayetteville-Manlius on Friday at 6 p.m.
Varsity Boys’ Win Finale
Troy Norton tossed in 14 and Mac Porter a dozen points as the Bucs varsity basketball team finished the season 4-14 with a 46-40 win over Rome Free Academy.
Oswego held a 13-12 lead after eight minutes, but in the second quarter outscored the home team 11-4 for a 24-16 halftime advantage.
Rome Free fought back, but could not overcome the visiting Bucs.
Also scoring for Oswego were Dan Montagnola with nine, Jake Metcalf six and Josh McRae five points.
Varsity Hockey Team Blanks Bees
Josh Sova scored a goal in the first and second period as the Bucs varsity hockey team shutout Baldwinsville on senior night 2-0.
The win guaranteed Oswego the third seed in the Section III post season action.
Matt Howard was a force to be reckoned with in the net as he stopped 32 Bees shots.
While Sova got the two goals, the assists were credited to Dustin Kavanaugh, Fred Donabella and Rick Uribe.
Oswego seniors recognized on the night of their final home game included Matt Howard, Dustin Kavanaugh, Matt Donovan, Mike Brown, Jared Cooper, Rick Uribe, Sam Czarnecki, Greg Unger, Ryan Ramsey, David Morgia and Jon Carson.
Bartrum, Rossi Lead Bucs Matmen
Shane Bartrum and Kyle Rossi finished third and fifth, respectively, for the Oswego High School wrestling team at the Section III meet in Utica.
Despite having only four wrestling competing in the meet the Bucs finished eighteenth out of 24 teams in competition.
At 189 Bartrum finished third. He started with a 51 second pin of Vincent Renzi of Carthage and then lost to Kayrin Cox of Corcoran 8-7.
He rallied for a win over RFA grappler Matt Leggett in a 4-3 battle and then finished in third with a 1-0 victory over Nick Mieczkowski of VVA.
Rossi, at 130, won by a technical fall in 5:15 over Kareeb Howard of Corcoran and then lost to Nick LaFlair of Central Square 2-0.
He followed with a 5-1 victory over Jack Howard of Fulton and then lost to Dan Walts of VVA 5-3.
In the battle for fifth he scored a 6-0 win over LaFlair.
At 160 Mike Ruggio started with a pin of Jim Lang of Baldwinsville in 2:38 and then lost to Tom Capone of Watertown in 1:53.
He followed with a loss to Connor Fitzpatrick of ESM by a 3-1 count.
At 152 Dan Ellingwood lost to Nick Muckey of Fulton 7-1 in the first round.
Varsity B Hockey Falls
The Varsity B hockey team lost to Hamilton on the Colgate University ice by an 8-2 margin.
Oswego goals were scored by Dan Maniccia, Chris Pike and Davie Mathes.
Dave Walpole, Jordan Darling and Jeremy Purce all had assists.
In net, Josh Cooley made 21 saves and Chris Bonner made 14 saves.
Jayvee Boys’ Win Ten
The Oswego jayvee boys’ basketball team defeated the home standing Rome Free Academy Black Knights, 48 – 42 Friday night, to complete a very successful season.
The junior Bucs jumped out to an early 14- 6 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.
Rome did battle back to within three points, but the Bucs were able to withstand the challenge.
Coach Brian Haessig said, “A strong team defense and balanced scoring once again were the calling cards of this team.â€Â
Captain Mike Thompson led the team with 15 points, as well as his usual strong defense and leadership.
Josh Gillard continued his hot shooting with 13 and fellow frosh Nate Miller added 10 points.
Rounding out the scoring were big men Connor Riley four, Justin Peterson four, and Kevin Carpentier two.
These three also did an outstanding job of rebounding, limiting Rome to one shot on most possessions.
Brennon Richardson also contributed strong defense in the win.
The team concluded its season with a record 10-7, the best record in several seasons.
Coach Haessig said, “This was an outstanding group of young men who demonstrated teamwork, hustle, hard work, and sportsmanship in every practice and game. It was a pleasure to coach them and watch their improvement as the season progressed. Every team member had a role and contributed to the total success of the team.â€Â
Tri-captains Mike Thompson, Justin Peterson and Ryan Patrick (called up to the varsity in early January) led the team.
Other team members were Steven Hill, Kevin Carpentier, Eric Henderson, Brennon Richardson, Autie Ascenzi, Erik May, Kameron Williams, Connor Riley, Nate Miller and Josh Gillard.
Jayvee Girls’ Win
The Oswego Lady Bucs jayvee five defeated Rome Free Academy 46-43 in overtime.
Leading the Bucs were Taylor Giglio with 20 points and Ally McPherson with 13 as the Bucs finished the season 10-8.
Lady Bucs Seventh Graders Seven Straight
Playing their finest all around game of the year, the seventh grade Lady Bucs basketball team won its seventh straight game 66-35 over rival Central Square.
Leading the offensive attack were Siara Wilson (14 points) and Julia Lavery (12 points).
Also adding to the win were Rachael Purtell (8 points), Nikki McCarthy (8 points), Margo Dillon (6 points), Allison Smith (4 points) and Reilly Patrick (4 points).
Brenna Riley, Katie Knopp, Meghan Anderson, Meredith Chesare and Ashley Sgro all contributed to the win with 2 points each.
Carrie Yurkon also contributed with timely rebounding.
The team now is 7-0 with two games to go.
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