Fox Lane/John Jay swim relay places seventh at states

The freestyle relay team of (l to r) Spencer Grayson, Aidan Polese, Andrew Acocella and Matija Novakovic earned a seventh-place finish in the state finals. Fox Lane photo

By JIM MACLEAN 

It was two exciting days of the best high school swim racers in the state making a big splash in the pool at Ithaca College for the New York State Swimming Championships on March 7-8.

One race after another was an intense showdown to the final touch on the wall, and five swimmers from the combined Fox Lane/John Jay team earned a chance to make the trip upstate and compete in the meet. The meet was a combination of New York State championships for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association public schools, and the Federation meet with Catholic schools and private schools as all the best high school swimmers in the state converged in Ithaca for one giant meet.

They saved their best for last as a quartet of Fox Lane swimmers teamed up for the 400-yard freestyle relay event and finished strong to place seventh in the state and ninth in the Federation standings. That performance earned them the chance to stand on the podium and receive their medals as state place finishers.

A pair of seniors finished their high school careers with a bang as both Aidan Polese and Spencer Grayson swam personal best times on the final two legs with Grayson in the anchor role to help the team finish seventh with a time of 3:14.35.

“It was a great meet for us,” admitted Fox Lane coach Laurie Kelleher. “It was a great last meet and send off for the seniors. Having Spencer do his final anchor for us and to have them up on the podium together was extra special.”

Freshman Matija Novakovic led it off for the relay team, followed by Andrew Acocella. Polese then swam the third leg in a personal best time of 47.77, and Grayson closed it out with a personal best time of 47.5.

It was a busy meet overall for Acocella as he earned the chance to compete in two individual events along with the relay.

Acocella started off the meet with a personal best time of 1:45 in the 200-yard freestyle event to finish 22nd overall in the Federation standings.

He followed that up with a 10th place finish in the state and 11th overall in the 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 4:38.48.

“Andrew had a great meet, and he is only a sophomore and improving everyday,” Kelleher said of Acocella.

Grayson also competed in an individual event as he finished 23rd overall with a personal best time of 47.73 in the 100-yard freestyle event. He then improved on that time in his 100-yard leg of the relay with a time of 47.15 in the final swim of his high school career for the Foxes.

Senior Ryan Loveless also earned the trip upstate to compete in two individual events. Loveless was 19th overall in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:49.88. He was also in the 100-yard backstroke event where he finished 37th overall with a time of 55.19 as he finished his Fox Lane high school career and will now get ready to compete in college next year at Holy Cross.

Polese is another senior competing in his final meet for Fox Lane and in addition to the relay event he earned the chance to compete in the 200-yard freestyle where he finished 34th overall with a time of 1:46.98.

Earning a trip upstate with your teammates to stay overnight for the two-day meet is an experience the swimmers will never forget. All the swimmers competed in the preliminary races on the first day of the State championships on March 7, with the top 30 finishers in the preliminaries earning the chance to swim in the finals on March 8.

It was a great finish for a great career for the seniors as they helped the Fox Lane/John Jay team turn in a great season overall, winning the Section 1 League 3 championship meet and losing only one dual meet all season long.