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Senior Chris Corrigan excels in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
Kathy Leistner/Herald
Long Beach’s boys’ swim team recovered from tough losses to Great Neck South and Jericho with victories over Bellmore-Merrick and Garden City last week to close the regular season with a record of 7-2.
“We've had a good season,” Marines coach Woody Davis said. “We have 55 kids on the team and they came along nicely."
Long Beach had no problems at home against Garden City on Jan. 21, capturing first place in all three relays and six other events en route to a 114-66 victory. Senior John Nash won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00.75, placed second in the 200 Individual Medley (2:12.07) and swam the leadoff leg in the winning 200 medley relay, and freshman Nicholas Stoski romped in the 200 freestyle (1:58.36) and 100 breaststroke (1:06.59) to lead the charge.
Seniors Chris Corrigan (100 free) and Nick Febrizio (50 free), and freshman Harrison Weitz (diving) also won individual events against Garden City, which took first in the 200 IM, 100 butterfly and 500 free. Senior Luke Meyers and junior Ryan Murray were both part of the Marines’ 200 and 400 free relay wins.
The triumph over Garden City came 48 hours after a thrilling 93-92 win over Bellmore-Merrick that saw the Marines score crucial points in each of the last two events. Senior Max Cuttler edged Dan Elliot for third place in the 100 breaststroke, won by Stoski, and Febrizio, Meyers, Stoski and Nash finished first in the 400 free relay by three-hundredths of a second.
Depth was the biggest reason Long Beach emerged with the victory. Bellmore-Merrick won first place in nine events, but the Marines gobbled up most of the second, third and fourth-place points. “We had five events we took second and third, and a few where we got second, third and fourth,” Davis explained. “When you do that, you've got a good chance to win."
Long Beach took second and third in the 200 medley relay, the 200 free (junior Drew Cohen and Meyers), the 50 free (Corrigan and junior Pete Schellhorn), the 100 fly (Corrigan and Nash) and 100 free (Schellhorn and Cohen).
Scoring zero points in diving (senior standout Nick Smith missed six weeks with mono) and losing the 400 free relay by the slimmest of margins (two-hundredths of a second) cost Long Beach in its 93-90 loss to Jericho on Jan. 15. Despite the outcome, Davis said it was “simply a great high school swim meet.”
The division championships take place this Friday and Saturday at the Nassau Aquatic Center, while the county championships will be held at the same site over a four-day span beginning Feb. 3.
“Great Neck South is a strong favorite to repeat as county champ,” Davis said. “It's going to be a real fight for second between us, Jericho and Bellmore-Merrick.”
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