by Warren Kozireski
The swimming results were secondary as five schools came together for the annual Laps for Life held at Spencerport on the first day of December.
The event, with Albion, Harley Allendale-Columbia, Irondequoit and Livonia, was originally organized in 2010 to raise support funds for the son of former Spencerport swimmer Jay Kovaleski, whose son Nicholas was diagnosed and later died of childhood leukemia. Harley is coached by former Rangers teammate Pete Mancuso, Spencerport is coached by former Albion swimmer Josh Nellist and Livonia head coach Steve Dzina formerly was the Rangers coach when Kovaleski and Mancuso were swimming.
Pre-event team fundraising netted $1,400 and another $700 was raised on site with clothing and paraphernalia sales with more orders in process. All money is now donated to the WNY Chapter of Make Some Noise: Cure Kids Cancer Foundation.
The Rangers boys swimming team used depth to finish the meet second behind Livonia. Max Wersinger was the only individual event winner, taking the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:03.97. He also finished second in the 200-yard individual medley and was part of the winning 200-yard medley relay with Jared Kettinger, Kameron Keyes and Trevor Benson winning in 1:48.36.
Benson and Zach Mulvihill finished 3-4 in the 200-yard freestyle, Leo Buoye and Chad Colby were 3-4 in diving, Keyes took third in the 100-yard butterfly, Matthew Cordaro third in the 100-yard freestyle, Benson third in the 500-yard freestyle and Kettinger third in the 100-yard backstroke.
