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 My Site News: Democrat and Chronicle Article - Championship legacy drives Pittsford to top |
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Friday, February 2
Democrat and Chronicle Article - Championship legacy drives Pittsford to top
Championship legacy drives Pittsford to top
Deep Panthers have won 49 consecutive dual meets
James Johnson
Staff writer
(February 2, 2007) — PITTSFORD — When it comes to boys swimming in Section V, whichever team moves into the lead tends to stay there awhile.
This latest wave is clearly stamped Pittsford.
"They don't have a weak spot," Fairport coach Mike Kennedy said. "They keep coming at you every race. Other teams have one or two weak spots. Pittsford just has good quality depth all the way through."
It seems to be that way season after season.
Pittsford has won 49 consecutive dual meets under coach Mark Morris. That includes head-to-head contests against rival Fairport, the team that Pittsford replaced as the area's best.
When the Section V Class A Championships take place Feb.15 and 17, Pittsford's team will arrive at the Webster Aquatic Center as four-time defending champions. The Panthers have finished as the state's top-ranked team the last four years. A repeat would match the number of consecutive Monroe County league division titles.
"Our legacy is what drives us," junior Sean McManus said. "We're always trying to better ourselves year after year. It becomes contagious. During the season, we have holes that we need to fill, but people always step up because they have a lot to live up to."
Kennedy, a former Fairport swimmer, has a good idea about what makes a team strong.
The Red Raiders once won sectional championships 17 consecutive seasons and in a span of four years, beat 60 dual meet opponents in a row.
Pittsford is in the middle of a run where the Panthers just don't seem to have an off or bad year.
"A lot of it has to do with their club program (PACK)," Kennedy said. "The coaching staff keeps them motivated, the kids are swimming year-round."
For Pittsford, which includes swimmers from Sutherland and Mendon high schools, practice is 2½ hours a day, six days a week.
"Then you ask them to do it in the offseason," Morris said, as he pointed out that "a change in mentality by the kids" led to success.
"From (1996 on) I don't think I've had less than 17 kids swim year-round. I've had as many as 26."
Morris said this while on the deck of the Mendon pool. In the water were 20 members of the Pittsford girls team, who paddled through their offseason workout.
Maurice "Marty" Keating, head coach for the Pittsford girls, is an assistant for the boys team.
"We have the best of each of their worlds," senior Matt Lobban started to explain.
One Pittsford team member said that Keating is "clinically insane" because his technical knowledge is so strong.
"Coach Morris plans out strategies for meets and the season," junior Nathan French said. "He is great at maximizing what we can do."
The Panthers were, for the most part, ready when it came time to close their regular-season schedule.
Pittsford lined up to swim against Webster Schroeder, then undefeated in league meets, Penfield and Canandaigua, which were both undefeated, and rival Fairport.
All of those meets were won by the Panthers by 35 points or more.
"We were on JV the last time the varsity lost," senior Jim Prezzano said of he and teammate Kenny Pink. "It was here against Fairport. It was definitely an emotional meet.
"But it more like psyched us up for sectionals, and we won. Fairport was an emotional win because it is the only team that has been able to beat us more than once."
Andrew Kuter, Nathan French, Peter Koenig, and McManus each beat state cut times during Pittsford's victory over Fairport on Tuesday.
Kuter, a junior, did so in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles. Pink hit his state cut times in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke. Pittsford's 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays beat the "magic" state qualifying times during the same meet at Mendon.
"We have a certain confidence," McManus said. "I wouldn't call it arrogance, it's 'Believe in yourself.'
"That's how you win meets, sectional and state titles. You have to beat the best to be the best, so we like facing those good teams."
JAMESJ@DemocratandChronicle.com
Jumping in
Matt VanVoorhis and Ben French joined the Pittsford boys swim team from a different route.
"Ben and I just showed up,'' VanVoorhis said.
French, a junior at Mendon, and VanVoorhis, a senior at Sutherland, were rowers.
"We thought it would be fun to do because of the team's success,'' French said. "My brother (Nathan) suggested it.
"There's always a spot on the team, but it was difficult that first year."
— James Johnson
Pittsford legacy
We know how important numbers are when it comes to the sport of swimming. Here are few figures produced by the Pittsford boys swimming team in pools:
2 Diving coaches (Laura Price and Mark McMann).
4 Season-ending No. 1 state rankings and consecutive Section V Class A Championships.
5 Consecutive Monroe County Division I titles.
11 Losses in 13 seasons under Morris, six in the first two years.
16 State champions, including six relays, under coach Mark Morris.
49 Consecutive wins in dual meets.
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