STAC BOYS SWIMMING: OWEGO WINS EVERY EVENT EN ROUTE TO FIRST VICTORY (23 PHOTOS) (2019-01-15)
BY TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports ReportOWEGO - Owego has been battling against teams four or five times the size of its squad, or more. On Tuesday, seven Indian swimmers finally faced someone their own size in the 8-man Norwich team and made the most of it. Owego swept top honors in all 11 contested events to post a 92-53 STAC victory here.
Owego head coach Matt Kisloski was pleased with the team's performance.
"(We) came in expecting a tight meet," he said. "I had seen that they didn't have divers either. They were down a few guys, but we still expected it to be a close one.
"We have a small team, but we're a very close team and we've really been treating this as a growing season. That's helped us when we do swim smaller teams, because I had some really strong performances out here, which I was really happy with, especially having a young team, no seniors. I was very happy."
Brandon Lavo, Adam Gault and Noah Bingley were quadruple winners for the Indians while Joey Criscitello and Eric Theal were victorious three times each.
Lavo won the 220-yard freestyle an the 500 free, posting time of 2:00.7 and 5:32.78, respectively.
Gault captured the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:30.35 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:18.28.
Bingley took the 50 free, clocking 24.31 seconds, and the 100 free with a time of 55.31 seconds.
Criscitello won the 100 butterfly, touching the wall in 1:12.89.
Theal claimed the 100 backstroke, registering a time of 1:11.2.
Jay Morton and Jacob Krassin teamed with Gault and Theal to win the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:07.7.
Gault, Criscitello, Bingley and Lavo won the 200 free relay, recording a time of 1:44.74.
Lavo, Criscitello, Bingley and Theal completed the first-place sweeps with a winning time of 4:06.16 in the 400 freestyle relay.
Winning all the events was a big accomplishment for the Indians.
"When you have a team of seven guys you look at what you want to accomplish as a team and with some teams, having upwards of 40 people, you've got to look at what can we do as a smaller team and taking events is a big one," Kisloski said.
Owego's second-place finishers were Theal in the 100 fly and Krassin in the 500 free.
Finishing third for the Indians were Criscitello in the 200 free, Morton in the 200 IM and 100 back, and Krassin in the 50 free.
Owego (1-5) hosts Ithaca on Jan. 29 to close out the regular season.
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IN PHOTO 1: Owego's Adam Gault. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
