Chaminade finishes second in CHSAA; St. Anthony's third

In Sunday’s CHSAA boys swimming championships, perennial powerhouse Fordham Prep led after the first event and never looked back, scoring 839.5 points for a runaway first-place finish. But second place was up for grabs as Chaminade and St. Anthony’s battled for Long Island supremacy.

The Flyers scored 670.5 points, just edging out the Friars who finished with 654. Senior Emmett Johnson won the 100-yard freestyle in 46.59 for Chaminade’s only first-place finish.

“We’re happy with second, but we’re definitely not satisfied,” Chaminade coach Angelo Pellicone said. “Now we’re looking forward to having a good showing at the state meet.”

St. Anthony’s senior Jack Volpe won the 1-meter diving with a score of 472.10 to give the Friars a 10.5-point lead over the Flyers with seven events left. In the very next event, Mike Conroy finished fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 53.85. Sean Goralski (55.48) and James Canner (55.84) finished seventh and eighth to score points for the Flyers and put them ahead for good.

Chaminade’s depth proved to be key in staving off a St. Anthony’s run as the Flyers had multiple swimmers place in the top eight in three out of the final six events. In addition to Johnson’s win, Dan Lagalante finished fifth in the 100 freestyle in 48.80. Christian Foti (4:53.77) and Liam Cashin (4:54.67) then finished fifth and sixth in the 500 freestyle. Mike Cashin finished fifth in the 100 backstroke in 54.73 and Lagalante finished eighth (56.00).

Chaminade had a total of nine swimmers qualify for the state championships.

“A lot of our guys swam at their best at the championships, which is the goal coming into the league meet,” Pellicone said. “When you have nine kids that qualify for states on a second-place team, that’s pretty good.”

St. Anthony’s senior Christian Yeager was voted the meet’s Most Outstanding Swimmer and the Jack Kennedy Award winner, which is awarded to the swimmer who had the best career in the league. Yeager set a new league record in the 100 backstroke with 51.08 and won the 200 individual medley in 1:51.89. Yeager will be swimming for Harvard next year.