Falcons on course for first NFL boys swimming title since 1976

by Larry Austin
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, January 19, 2006

Members of the Niagara-Wheatfield boys swimming team cheer on their teammates during Tuesday’s meet at Lewiston-Porter. (photo by Larry Austin)

With a 63-37 victory at Lewiston-Porter last Tuesday, Niagara-Wheatfield tightened its grip on its first Niagara Frontier League title in boys swimming since 1976.

Russell Sullivan and Isaac Patterson both won two events for the Falcons. Sullivan took the 100-meter freestyle in 52.33 and 100-meter backstroke in 58.62. Patterson was first in the 50-meter freestyle in 23.35 and the 500-meter freestyle in 5:14.87.

For Lew-Port, Ryan O’Laughlin won the 100-meter butterfly in 54.71 and the 200-meter individual medley in 2:10.35.

With the victory, Niagara-Wheatfield moved its record to 12-0 with four meets to go. The Falcons dumped head coach Mike Corsaro into the pool after the meet, usually symbolic of a championship, but the is not ready to hoist a championship banner at the Niagara-Wheatfield pool just yet.

“We’ve beaten the other four teams that we have to swim against, so we’ve just got to keep plugging away,” Corsaro said. The Falcons face Grand Island, Kenmore West, Lockport and Niagara Falls on the dual meet schedule.

“They’ll go undefeated,” Lew-Port coach Joe Lauzonis said, however. “There’s nobody even remotely close to Wheatfield.”

The Lancers were close in the standings and in the early part of the meet. Lew-Port was second in the NFL, having lost just once earlier in the season to Niagara-Wheatfield. A victory would have vaulted the Lancers into a tie.

The Lancers got off to a good start against the Falcons by winning the 200-meter medley relay in 1:45.73 with the quartet of O’Laughlin, Josh Janese, Kyle Tenke and Adrien Russell. Niagara-Wheatfield responded by going one-two in the 200-meter freestyle with Pat Hughes and Lukas Shumway. O’Laughlin and Janese went one-two for Lew-Port in the 200-meter individual medley, putting the Lancers in front 14-12 after three events.

Lauzonis said he loaded his best swimmers in events at the start of the meet hoping to accumulate points for a six or seven point lead, and then hold on from there.

“They’re just a deeper team than we are,” Lauzonis said. “We tried our best in the beginning, but they just had too many horses.”

“It was a close race in the 200 free between second and third. My swimmer got his best time by three seconds, but he still got touched out,” Lauzonis said, referring to Nik Curry’s 1:58 clocking, a swift effort for just an eighth grader.

Lew-Port maintained an 18-16 lead heading into the diving event, where the Falcons went one-two with Ryan Wagner and George Todino. The points in diving put the Falcons ahead for good, 23-19.

“I knew it would be close,” said Corsaro. “The diving was an important event tonight, so our divers did a nice job. They came through. Every one of these guys came through.”

The Falcons strung together six straight victories to close out the meet.

“When there was a close one to go either way, we got it,“ said Corsaro. “Russell Sullivan in the 100, Scott Banks, Isaac Patterson won the 50 freestyle and he won the 500, and he anchored the two winning relays, the 200 and 400 relays.”

The loss put Lew-Port solidly in second with North Tonawanda.

“We’ve got a tough meet coming up against North Tonawanda. It’s going to be very close,” Lauzonis said. North Tonawanda, like Niagara-Wheatfield, is a Class AA school, while Lew-Port is Class A-2, the smallest in the NFL.

“It’s nice to see a competition between Lew-Port and Niagara-Wheatfield,” Corsaro said. “Years past it’s been Lockport-NT, Kenmore West-Grand Island. Now it’s finally Lew-Port and Niagara-Wheatfield, two teams that probably haven’t fought for it in a while.”

“They’ve got 60 swimmers and we have 20,” Lauzonis noted. “That’s always a tough thing with all the sports at Lew-Port. We’re such a small school compared to all the other schools.”