Several area swimmers qualify for state meet
AMHERST — Jamestown/Falconer’s Conner Dean and Frewsburg/Southwestern’s Gannon Moore claimed titles as eight local swimmers finalized positions at the Section VI State Qualifier Meet at Alumni Arena on Thursday.
Dean swam a personal best to win the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 54.65 to just beat out East Aurora’s Weston Valentine (54.84).
Moore also swam a personal best to claim the sectional crown in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.02. Teammate Xander Pitts captured the Trojan Bears’ first sectional title of the meet on Wednesday when he took first place in the diving competition at Alden High School with 484.55 points after finishing fifth at the class championships a week ago.
Gannon Moore earned his first sectional patch in the opening event Thursday as the Frewsburg/Southwestern 200-yard medley relay team, which also included Brady Lindstrom, Grady Moore and Miles Moore, swam a time of 1:38.88 for first.
In the final relay event, the Trojan Bears narrowly missed out on another sectional title in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Orchard Park swam the winning time of 3:16.18, but the team of Miles Moore, Grady Moore, Landon Frederes and Gannon Moore swam a time of 3:16.79 for Frewsburg/Southwestern to qualify for the state meet.
In the 100-yard freestyle, both Frewsburg/Southwestern’s Miles Moore and Jamestown/Falconer’s Aidan McCleery swam personal bests that qualified them for the state meet. Mile Moore finished with a time of 48.57 in fourth, just ahead of McCleery in fifth at 48.61.
Dunkirk/Forestville/Fredonia’s Adam Fred just missed out on the 100-yard freestyle, finishing in sixth with a time of 49.58. However, Fred will be headed to the state meet in the 100-yard backstroke thanks to his personal-best swim and state-qualifying time of 54.26 at the class championships.
Just like Fred, Frewsburg/Southwestern’s Logan Hren just missed out on adding to his state meet schedule. Hren placed in third in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.66, and in the 500-yard freestyle — which he had already qualified for states — he took second with a time of 4:53.71.
Also making the podium individually for Frewsburg/Southwestern was Grady Moore, taking sixth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.32; Landon Frederes, swimming to fourth in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 56.36; and Brady Lindstrom, finishing seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:03.87.
Jamestown/Falconer’s Dean added to his first-place performance with a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly as he went for a personal best time of 54.98.
Dunkirk/Forestville/Fredonia took sixth in the 200-yard freestyle relay as the quartet of David Barrett, Trenton Krenzer, Matt Dunn and Fred swam a 1:34.26.



