East finishes fifth at league championships
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville East coach Mike Doerfler should have played the lotto on Saturday because he was dead on with his boys swimming team's fifth place finish at ECICs at Clarence High School.

"Fifth place is what we hoped for," said Doerfler.

East finished in fifth place in the AA division with 226 points.

The Flames had some outstanding individual swims. Sophomore Matt Geiger won the 100-yard backstroke in a personal best 53.45. The swim also qualified him for the New York State Championships. Geiger also placed fourth in the 100 fly in 56.12.

Freshman Michael Anderson was third in the 500 free in a personal best time of 5:06.63. He also finished sixth in the 200 free in 1:54.30.

Junior Neil Batta came in fifth in the 200 free with a 1:54.19, his best time in the event this year. He was sixth in the 100 free with a time of 52.23.

Junior Kane Hsieh set an East record in the 100 breast with a second-place time of 103.41 to qualify for states. The old record was 103.80. He also swam the 200 IM in a personal best time of 2:15.66 for ninth.

Thomas Mitchell was eighth in the 500 free in 5:36.92 and 13th in the 200 free (with a personal-best time of 2:01.69.

Joe O'Gorman placed fourth in diving with an 11-dive score of 292.75. His brother, Jeff, swam the 100 free in 58.75.

Josh Vekhter hit a personal best in the 100 breast with a time of 1:14.29, which was good enough for 17th place.

East's relays did OK. The 200 medley relay of Geiger, Hsieh, Kenny Munroe and Batta placed fifth in1:48.95. The 400 free relay of Batta, Anderson, Mitchell and Geiger were sixth in 3:34.08.

Anderson (200, 500 free), Batta (100, 200 free), Geiger (fly, back), Hsieh (IM, breast), Mitchell (200, 500 free), Munroe (100 fly) and all three relay teams will swim at the Section VI Championships Thursday at noon at Sweet Home High School. The finals begin at noon on Saturday. Vekhter might go in the 100 breast.

Sweet Home

The Panthers finished 11th in the 'AA' meet with 62 points.

Connor Hoffman (tenth in 100 back, 1:05.81), Yan Yatsynovich (14th in 100 free, 53.98) and Derek Mittlefehldt (15th in 50 free, 25.05) scored points for Sweet Home.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com