The Section 9 boys’ swimming and diving championships will be held this weekend at Valley Central High School in Montgomery. Here is a schedule of events.
- Thursday: Diving, prelims through finals – starts at 3:30 p.m.
- Friday: Swimming preliminaries – starts at 4:30 p.m.
- Saturday: Swimming finals – starts at 2:30 p.m.
There will be a preview story in Thursday’s Times Herald-Record. I decided to focus on some of the guys who very recently qualified for the Section 9 meet, including Zach Ryan and Tom Brusca of Minisink Valley and Anthony Johnson of Monroe-Woodbury, all of whom are seniors. Ryan and Johnson punched their tickets to sections at the Last Chance Meet a few weeks ago. Brusca qualified at the OCIAA meet.
Over the past few years on the swim beat, I focused much of the attention on the guys who come in first…set records…qualify for states…and the teams that win the scoring titles. I thought it might be nice to take a peek behind the curtain with some of the guys who just barely made it to sections and what an emotional experience it is for them and their families. For some guys this weekend, just qualifying really, simply was enough.
Minisink Valley senior Zach Ryan during practice on Monday, February 11, 2013. (JEFF GOULDING photo/Times Herald-Record)
A few things to look forward to:
Diving: Warwick sophomore Nick Rusek scored 541.95 points at the OCIAA meet. The overall Section 9 record is 548.75, set by Pine Bush’s Chris Blackwell in 1992. So Rusek certainly has a shot at that Thursday evening.
Warwick took four of the top five spots at the OCIAA meet, so the Wildcats’ other top divers – Brian Green, Chris Deaver and Brendan Leahy – could make it a clean sweep at the top.
Swimming: There are a number of swimmers that are pretty close to state meet-qualifying times, so you might want to watch the scoreboard with these guys.
Individuals close to meeting state-qualifying times
200 individual medley (2:00.63)
Jared Charleston, Monroe-Woodbury, 2:01.23
50 freestyle (22.27)
Dylan Burns, Cornwall, 22.49
Connor McCarty, Cornwall, 22.73
Padraic Thompson, Pine Bush, 22.86
Matthew Pfohl, Warwick, 22.97
100 freestyle (48.94)
Dylan Burns, Cornwall, 49.12
100 backstroke (54.82)
Emile Kuyl, New Paltz, 55.08
100 breaststroke (1:01.20)
James Crumm, Minisink Valley, 1:01.76
Brendin Thompson, Pine Bush, 1:01.79
The 200 freestyle relay is always a great race at a meet like this. Will Cornwall’s sprinters be able to recapture what they did at the OCIAA meet?
That 100 breaststroke between Crumm and Thompson is also becoming a must-watch. They had a close race at the end of the regular season and another at the OCIAAs.
>(As astute reader Aodhan Fogarty pointed out to me – Crumm isn’t entered in the breastroke. So there goes that idea. Anyway, if you want to see who is entered in which race, you can check out the psych sheet at Section9swim.com. Crumm will be doing the 100 and 200 freestyles instead. We still have might a good race in the breaststroke, as Pine Bush brothers Brendin and Padraic Thompson are the top two seeds in the event.)
Of course, Pine Bush is also gunning for a fifth straight team title. Based on their fairly large margin of victory at the OCIAA meet, I’d say the Bushmen are the favorites in the team scoring.
–
Anything you’re looking forward to this weekend at Valley Central? I’ll be there on Thursday and Saturday, so check back for video highlights later this weekend. I’ll also be passing along news and notes on Twitter: @THR_Montgomery.
