The Swimming Scene: Jericho, Bellmore JFK tie

We all knew it was going to be another tight year in Nassau.

Then Jericho and Bellmore JFK had to go and perfectly illustrate just how close the top teams are in the county, tying 93-93 tonight.

Going into the final event Jericho led by just two points, 87-85. But Bellmore won the 400 freestyle relay (3:31.42 to 3:31.82) to force the tie.

Other highlights: Austin Kowalsky won the 200 yard freestyle (1:52.79) and the 500 freestyle (5:10.19) for Bellmore and Joseph Na won the 50 freestyle (23.07) and the 100 freestyle (54.03) for Jericho.

Jericho coach Richard Stern said he was surprised as several of Bellmore’s times were significantly faster than their top times coming into the event, something he traces to the rivalry between the schools. The rivalry began for Stern four years ago, his first year at the helm, when Jericho won the last relay in a close dual meet against Bellmore. They ended up winning the meet and the conference title.

"It’s always a great meet when we get together," Stern said. "That Bellmore team is one I’ve been telling my team about all year long. They’re a heck of a team. Coach Bob Kaefer is going to have those boys flying by counties."

Today’s match was a seesaw affair which started out with Jericho down by two points, 40-38, after Diving.

"We kind of knew we would be down to start," Stern said. "Their medley relay was faster than ours. We knew they were going to be up going into the IM and that the IM would be important. We outscored them 9-7 in that event. We thought going into the diving we would be tied, and we were only minus two."

But Jericho found itself tied after the backstroke and leading by two points after the breaststroke.

Stern talked about the resiliency of his squad.

"They didn’t give up, that’s a huge thing," he said. "We were favored, we were down and we fought back and it almost worked out."

Mark Macyk contributed reporting to this story.