Billy Swartwout of St. Anthony's swims to victory in the 200-yard freestyle event during the CHSAA swimming championships at the Nassau Aquatic Center in East Meadow on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020. H Credit: James Escher

By Owen O'Brien February 9, 2020  Newsday

Billy Swartwout barely had time to catch his breath.

After anchoring St. Anthony’s winning 200-yard freestyle relay at the CHSAA boys swimming championships, Swartwout had a quick turnaround. He was up again in the very next event, the 100 backstroke, in an attempt to win his second individual title at the Nassau Aquatic Center Sunday afternoon.

“That was a tough double,” Swartwout said. “I definitely felt my legs die out in the first 50 [yards], but my training has been pretty good regarding the backstroke. So I definitely wanted to bring it back home.”

He won that race in 51.41 seconds. He earlier was first in the 200 individual freestyle (1:39.98), and in the final event of the day was part of St. Anthony’s winning 400 freestyle relay team (3:07.96).

“He’s been in that situation before, he swims everything for us,” coach Dan McBride said. “He’s been across the board as far as events in big meets, so he’s been prepared for that. He knows exactly what he’s doing, he knows how to prepare himself, so he was ready to go. He’s always ready to go.”

Swartwout had the only individual victories for St. Anthony’s Sunday, but Mark Owens placed second in the 50 free and third in the 100 fly, and Chris Stange placed second in the 100 fly and third in the 50 free. Both were members of the Friars’ two winning relay teams, which is how St. Anthony’s often puts together its best performances.

“That was a big focus for this meet, we really wanted to win both the [200] and the [400] free relays,” Stange said. “The relays, we get to all come together; it’s really swimming as a team and we swim for each other then.”

Patrick Walsh and Nicholas Shopis both had individual wins for Chaminade, which finished second in team points (711). Fordham Prep won with 722.50 and St. Anthony’s (532) was third.

Walsh won the 500 free in 4:38.31 and placed second in the 100 back, and Shopis won the 100 free in 45.64 and placed second in the 200 free. The two juniors compete against each other at practice every day, helping each other to push.

“At practice, we usually race each other whenever we do a race practice,” Walsh said. “[Shopis] would be in Lane 1, I would be in Lane 2, so we both try to beat each other.”

“With the team we are on, it’s all about teamwork and trying to get each other better as a team,” Shopis said. “So you can see some swimmers do it alone, but it’s hard to get much better without a team.”

St. Anthony’s enters the March 6-7 state championships at the Nassau Aquatic Center with additional confidence after posting three times that were the fastest marks in the state entering Sunday, according to results on swimdata.info. The Friars have the top times in the 200- and 400-freestyle relays, and Swartwout has the top time in the 200 free.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster,” Swartwout said. “I know I have some tough competition coming up, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction and I think it’s going to be a fun meet coming up.”

CHSAA boys swimming championship at Nassau Aquatic Center

200-yard medley relay: Xavier (Engler, Loftus, B. Baldwin, Uybico) 1:34.70, Fordham Prep (Flaherty, Kelly, O’Brien, Galea) 1:35.66, Chaminade (Walsh, Mattone, Cornish, Virga) 1:36.38; 200 free: Swartwout (St. Anthony’s) 1:39.98, Shopis (Cha) 1:41.09, Norris (FP) 1:42.14; 200 IM: Kelly (FP) 1:53.38, Flaherty (FP) 1:55.66, Kroon (Xvn) 1:55.76; 50 free: Karinsky (St. Francis Prep) 20.85, Owens (SA) 21.33, Stange (SA) 21.39; Diving: McNicholas (Kellenberg) 415.80, Hall (Kel) 391.80, Chen (Molloy) 362.80; 100 fly: Karinsky (SFP) 49.99, Stange (SA) 50.26, Owens (SA) 50.81; 100 free: Shopis (Cha) 45.64, Norris (FP) 46.62, S. Baldwin (Xav) 47.03; 500 free: Walsh (Cha) 4:38.31, Engler (Xav) 4:39.86, Beehler (Molloy) 4:45.31; 200 free relay: SA (Stange, Owens, McManus, Swartwout) 1:25.75, Cha (Coward, Virga, Shannon, Shopis) 1:26.47, SFP (Nierer, Oliveira, Tyka, Karinsky) 1:27.44; 100 back: Swartwout (SA) 51.42, Walsh (Cha) 52.19, B. Baldwin (Xav) 52.23; 100 breast: Kelly (FP) 56.30, Loftus (Xav) 57.50, Kroon (Xvn) 59.05; 400 free relay: SA (Stange, Owens, McManus, Swartwout) 3:07.96, Cha (Coward, Shannon, Walsh, Shopis) 3:08.19, Xav (Lunardi, B. Baldwin, Loftus, S. Baldwin), Team Scores: FP 722.5, Cha 711, SA 532.

CHSAA boys swimming championship at Nassau Aquatic Center

200-yard medley relay: Xavier (Engler, Loftus, B. Baldwin, Uybico) 1:34.70, Fordham Prep (Flaherty, Kelly, O’Brien, Galea) 1:35.66, Chaminade (Walsh, Mattone, Cornish, Virga) 1:36.38.

200 free: Swartwout (St. Anthony’s) 1:39.98, Shopis (Cha) 1:41.09, Norris (FP) 1:42.14.

200 IM: Kelly (FP) 1:53.38, Flaherty (FP) 1:55.66, Kroon (Xvn) 1:55.76.

50 free: Karinsky (St. Francis Prep) 20.85, Owens (SA) 21.33, Stange (SA) 21.39.

Diving: McNicholas (Kellenberg) 415.80, Hall (Kel) 391.80, Chen (Molloy) 362.80.

100 fly: Karinsky (SFP) 49.99, Stange (SA) 50.26, Owens (SA) 50.81.

100 free: Shopis (Cha) 45.64, Norris (FP) 46.62, S. Baldwin (Xav) 47.03.

500 free: Walsh (Cha) 4:38.31, Engler (Xav) 4:39.86, Beehler (Molloy) 4:45.31.

200 free relay: SA (Stange, Owens, McManus, Swartwout) 1:25.75, Cha (Coward, Virga, Shannon, Shopis) 1:26.47, SFP (Nierer, Oliveira, Tyka, Karinsky) 1:27.44.

100 back: Swartwout (SA) 51.42, Walsh (Cha) 52.19, B. Baldwin (Xav) 52.23.

100 breast: Kelly (FP) 56.30, Loftus (Xav) 57.50, Kroon (Xvn) 59.05.

400 free relay: SA (Stange, Owens, McManus, Swartwout) 3:07.96, Cha (Coward, Shannon, Walsh, Shopis) 3:08.19, Xav (Lunardi, B. Baldwin, Loftus, S. Baldwin).

Team Scores: FP 722.5, Cha 711, SA 532.