Bears Come up Short as Season Closes Out

BREWSTER—As a team, the Brewster High boys swim team may have come up short in their two meets this week, but they have plenty of individual performances to be happy about. The Bears followed their narrow loss against league opponent Fox Lane with a fifth place finish at the divisional championships.

Brewster’s Charlie Carr swims backstroke at divisionals last week. BILL COdY Despite the team coming up short, several swimmers qualified for the upcoming Sectional Championships. Senior John Carr, along with sophomore Charlie Carr, led the Bears by qualifying for two individual events each. They both qualified in the 100 backstroke, while John also qualified for the 100 freestyle. In addition to the backstroke, Charlie also qualified for the 100 butterfly.

Sophomore Niki Tchobanov qualified for the 500 freestyle, while freshman Mark Stein will compete in diving. In addition the Bears will also send relay teams in the 200 medley, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle.

At Friday and Saturday's divisional championships the Bears finished with 235 points, just three points out of fourth. On Friday Stein set new personal best in diving with a score of 177.5, earning him a fourth place finish to go along with a sectional qualification.

“We've never had a diver, on the boys side, qualify for sectionals,” said coach Clare Carr. “He did really well at the divisionals, he was very nervous but he had some solid dives. Once he got on the board his approaches were great and he had great entries.”

Charlie Carr had the Bears best individual finish, taking second place in the 100 meter backstroke with a time of 56.7. John Carr finished two seconds behind him in seventh place finish, both qualified for sectionals.

John Carr and Charlie Carr teamed up with Tchobanov and junior Mike Quinn to take fifth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:45.6. This was the best their best time of the season, and they were the first of three Bears relay teams to qualify for sectionals.

In the 200 freestyle relay Quinn was joined by freshman Max Delin, sophomore Matt Kaufman, and junior Donald McLoughlin for another fifth place finish, qualifying them for sectionals. Their time of 1:38.4 was their season best.

The 400 freestyle relay featuring John Carr, Charlie Carr, Tchobanov, and junior Steve LePere finished second with a time of 3:33.5. Like the other relay teams, they too beat their previous best time, and qualified for sectionals.

In addition to qualifying for the backstroke, Charlie Carr also qualified for the 100 butterfly. His time of 55.5 placed him fourth at the divisionals. John Carr finished fourth in the 100 freestyle and earned his second sectional qualification with his time of 57 seconds.

Tchobanov picked up his own sectional qualification with a seventh place finish in the 500 freestyle, with a time of 5:18.7.

“The kids did very well, we had a lot of personal bests, all three of our relays are going to sectionals,” said Carr. “All in all it was a good season. We were definitely the underdog, we thought we were misplaced in the division but we held our own all season.”

Tuesday's dual meet with Fox Lane came down to final event, as the Bears came up just short, losing 96.5-86.5.

After taking the top three spots in the 200 freestyle relay the Bears needed to take the top two spots in the 400 freestyle relay to finish their comeback. But a lack of depth undid the Bears with LePere, McLoughlin, and freshman Dan Fulop and Greg Markert finishing in third with a time of 3:55.

“We lost in the last relay because I had stacked the two free relay, and didn't have enough depth in the four free relay,” said Carr. “If we had taken first and second in that four free relay we would have won, but I didn't have enough depth.”

The Bears fell behind early despite two first place finishes from John Carr, who took first in the 200 freestyle with a time 1:59, and the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.5.

In addition to Carr the Bears got first place finishes from Quinn in the 50 freestyle, and Tchobanov in the 500 free. McLoughlin finished third in the 500 freestyle, giving the Bears two of the top three spots.

Tchobanov also took second in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:17. Charlie Carr had two second place finishes, in the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.8, and the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.5. Markert finished five seconds behind Carr in the backstroke, and finished third.

The Bears took three of the top four spots in the 100 breaststroke with sophomore Sam Johnson taking second with a time of 1:12. Kaufman and senior Jordan Aglieco finished third and fourth.

Running short on events the Bears evened the score by taking the top three spots in the 200 freestyle relay. John Carr, Charlie Carr, Tchobanov and Quinn set the pace with a time of 1:36. Max Delin, LePere, Kaufman and McLoughlin took second with a time of 1:42.

Fulop, along with senior Nick Cody and juniors Alex Delin and Frank Secret finished in third with a time of 1:48.

“We started out playing catchup, and even though we got first in lot of events they would score 3-4-5, so we were constantly behind,” said Carr. “I didn't expect our second or our third relay to score, and when they did it scared them.”

But it in the end the Bears came up just short, and will finish the year with a 2-4 record in dual meets.

The Bears next meet will be the Sectional Championships on February 8-10, at Felix Festa in Clarkstown.