A season full of accomplishment and milestones for the Baldwinsville boys swim team had its final act during the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
The state meet took place at Long Island’s Nassau County Aquatics Center, where the Bees had a presence in all three relay races and hoped to contend for individual awards, too.
Senior Alex Hiltbrand was entered in both sprint races. He was 17th in the state going into the 50-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 21.65 seconds, and with 21.69 seconds was 16th in Friday’s qualifying round.
Reaching Saturday’s finals, Hiltbrand went faster, breaking his own personal mark with 21.62 seconds and getting to 14th place overall. Great Neck South’s Andy Lee was the state champion in 20.60 seconds.
In the 100 freestyle, Hiltbrand had gone as fast as 48.12 seconds and was the 30th-ranked qualifier. With a time of 48.30 seconds, Hiltbrand again made it to Saturday, where in 48.48 seconds he took 27th place overall. St. Anthony’s Justin Meyn, in 45.40 seconds, was the overall winner, with New Paltz’s Leo Kuyl (45.48) the NYSPHSAA champion.
Junior Nick Schultz entered the state meet as the eighth-fastest qualifier in the 100 breaststroke with his time of 58.22 seconds achieved during the Section III Class A championships on Feb. 14.
With a time of 59.01 seconds on Friday, Schultz was 11th in the qualifying round, just missing out on the main final. But in Saturday’s race he would post 59.79 seconds for 15th place overall, but 11th among NYSPHSAA swimmers.
Shoreham-Wading River’s Jason Louser won the state title in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 53.94 seconds, setting a new state record as no previous state swimmer had broken the 54-second mark.
Schultz was also in the 200 individual medley, where he had ducked under the two-minute mark (1:59.65) in order to race here, but could not repeat that on Long Island, going 2:01.89 to take 40th place.
Louser, who is headed to the University of California-Berkeley, won here, too, going 1:47.98 in the finals to beat the field by more than four seconds after a qualifying time of 1:46 flat broke yet another state record.
Schultz, Hiltbrand, John Licciardello and Bailey Ludden had gone 3:16.17 in the 400 freestyle relay and were 14th in the state going into the meet.
Here, the Bees’ quartet went 3:18 flat, which put them 22nd going into the finals, where in 3:20.73 they would end up in 29th place. St. Anthony’s won in 3:06.49 as Shenendehowa (3:08.93) claimed the NYSPHAA title.
These Bees were 28th in the 200 freestyle relay with 1:29.61 at the outset, and nearly matched that time in qualifying with 1:29.63, making it to Saturday’s round, where in 1:30.38 they were 26th, one spot behind Liverpool (1:30.21) as St. Anthony’s won in 1:24.37 and Niskayuna was the NYSPHSAA champion in 1:25.56.
Meanwhile, Licciardello and Ludden were paired with John Burns and Quinn Gruppe for the 200 medley relay, where the Bees finished 44th in 1:49.25. Fordham Prep (1:33.37) claimed the Federation title and Great Neck South (1:34.18) took NYSPHAA honors.