All of the underclassmen competing in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly at the DIAA Boys Swimming and Diving Championships will surely be happy to see Tommy Janton graduate this spring.
Their chances of winning next season will certainly increase, because Janton will be swimming at Notre Dame.
The Salesianum senior swept the backstroke and butterfly for the third consecutive year on Feb. 26 at the University of Delaware’s Rawstrom Natatorium. He also played a big part on two winning relays and was named the Delaware High School Swimming Coaches Association’s Boys Swimmer of the Year for the second straight season.
Janton is leaving Salesianum with six individual DIAA titles. Just as important to him, the Sals won the team crown in each of his four years at the school and have won six straight overall.
“I really can’t put it into words. It’s really something special,” Janton said after the meet. “Just having all of our team members here together and the excitement the team brings, pushing me through everything.”
GIRLS HONOREES:Meet Delaware’s All-State girls swimming team
Janton made an adjustment to win the 100 fly in 49.06, .99 of a second ahead of runner-up Breyden Wright of Sussex Central.
“Leading up to it, I was a little bit sketchy going into prelims on Wednesday because I knew I had to watch my underwaters,” he said. “This time I just really had my head in the game, and I was ready to go.”
He was even more dominant in the backstroke, finishing 3.87 seconds in front of second-place Joey Duquette of Mount Sophia in 48.50.
Janton leads the All-State first team, which also includes Sallies senior Alek Elder, who won the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke at the state meet to graduate with seven DIAA individual titles.
Those two also joined with Bryce Patterson and Teddy Tsakumis to win the 200 medley relay in 1:34.07, just .69 of a second off the state record the quartet set in the preliminaries.
Janton and Elder also combined with fellow first-teamer Kyle Skelly and Brandon Burke to win the meet’s final race – the 400 freestyle relay – in 3:10.92, almost seven seconds ahead of runner-up Wilmington Friends.
The Sals’ Griffin Scully also made the first team after winning the 1-meter diving competition. Other DIAA champs on the first team were Friends’ Tyler Wilmore (500 freestyle), Charter of Wilmington’s Noah Reice (100 freestyle) and Max Moen (200 freestyle) and Archmere’s Thomas Conaty (50 freestyle).
The other members of the All-State first team are Middletown’s Jude Winnington, Sussex Central’s Wright, Appoquinimink’s Zachary Redding, Conrad’s Aaron Stevens, Caesar Rodney’s Ryan Woodzell, Newark Charter’s Sritan Pittala and Sanford’s M.J. Hoban.
Freelance reporter Kevin Phillips contributed to this article.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ
All-State boys swimming
First team
Tommy Janton, sr., Salesianum
Alek Elder, sr., Salesianum
Max Moen, jr., Charter of Wilmington
Tyler Wilmore, so., Wilmington Friends
Noah Reice, sr., Charter of Wilmington
Thomas Conaty, jr., Tower Hill
Jude Winnington, so., Middletown
Breyden Wright, jr., Sussex Central
Zachary Redding, jr., Appoquinimink
Aaron Stevens, so., Conrad
Kyle Skelly, jr., Salesianum
Ryan Woodzell, jr., Caesar Rodney
Sritan Pittala, so., Newark Charter
M.J. Hoban, so., Sanford
Griffin Scully, jr., Salesianum
Second team
Michael Novacescu, St. Andrew’s; Joey Duquette, Mount Sophia Academy; Brandon Burke, Salesianum; Jackson Fanelli, Salesianum; Josh Juhasz, Charter of Wilmington; Yaseen Belkadi, Tower Hill; Joey Bond, Middletown; Carson Kalish, Sanford; Cameron Byrd, St. Mark’s; Jalen Stewart, Wilmington Friends; Niles Commodore, Tatnall; Cole Zippe, Newark Charter; Keizen Ameriks, St. Andrew’s; Ethan Moen, Charter of Wilmington; Ameer Bashir, Wilmington Friends; Joseph Brooks, Charter of Wilmington.
Third team
Conner Verbanas, Wilmington Friends; Teddy Tsakumis, Salesianum; Connor Monaghan, Concord; Jaxon Lauz, Sussex Academy; Francis McGurk, Salesianum; Joshua Smith, Brandywine; Brian Flemming, Cape Henlopen; Ethan Hann-Deschaine, Brandywine; Holden Tighe, Cape Henlopen; Coleman Woodard, Delmarva Christian; John Camfield, Salesianum; Jiahan Huang, St. Andrew’s; Bryce Patterson, Salesianum; Nate Bustard, Archmere.
