The Pittsford Boys Swimming and Diving team turned in the third best performance of any public high school competing at the state meet, helping to power Section 5 to the top ranking at the New York Public High School Championships at the Nassau County Aquatic Center on March 1.           

Among the highlights for Pittsford was having all three relay teams qualify for finals.  The 200 medley relay of Andrew Maier, Sean McManus, Dan Locke and John Lyman finished ninth with a time of 1:39.96.  The 200 free relay of Andrew Kuter, Dan Locke, Kenny Pink and Nate French claimed fourth place with 1:28.53.  Kuter, Locke, Pink and French were also fourth in the 400 free relay, with an impressive time of 3:15.32.

In individual events, Nate French was sixth in the 200 free (1:43.99).  He turned in an automatic All America time of 4:35.89 in the 500 free to claim fourth place overall.  French was also a finalist for the scholar-athlete award at the meet.

Kenny Pink tied for sixth place in the 100 breast (1:00.04) and Sean McManus was 10th (1:01.19).  Pink was 15th in the 200 IM (1:59.85) and Kuter was 15th in the 100 free (48.73).

In the preliminaries, Kuter was 22^nd in the 50 free, Brandon McManus was 26^th in the 500 free and Sean McManus placed 35^th in the 200 IM.  The 20 fastest swimmers in each event returned for finals, with the top 10 in the final heat and next ten swimming in a consolation heat but still scoring points for their team.           

Head Coach Mark Morris, who brought nine swimmers to Long Island, called it “a very competitive meet.”  He noted that Pittsford accounted for nearly a third of the points scored by Section 5 (183 of the 579.5), and that among public high schools, the Panthers finished just three points behind second place Long Beach.           

Also key to the Section 5 victory was the performance of Irondequoit’s Ricky Henahan, who was responsible for one of three new state records. Henahan went 48.90 in the 100 back, beating the record of 49.93 he set at last year’s state meet.  He also took first place in the 100 fly (49.76).           

The state meet marked the conclusion of another strong year for Pittsford swimming and diving.  The Panthers won their sixth straight Section 5 crown and fifth straight Monroe County championship.  The Panthers have won 61 straight dual meets, one of the longest winning streaks in Section 5.