The Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks and the Pine Bush Bushmen were jockeying for the top spot for the entire meet.

In the end, the Goldbacks tasted disappointment, even though they won the final event of the day.

Overall, the Goldbacks won only one event, but finished second in two others and third in two others, as the Goldbacks finished second at the Section 9 boys’ swimming and diving championships on Saturday at Valley Central High school in Montgomery.

The Goldbacks finished second in the meet with 303 points. The Bushmen won the meet with 319 total points.

“We all swam as hard as we could,” Newburgh junior Jack Mummery said. “They were just a better team today, but we swam as hard as we could. I’m proud of everyone on our team.”

The Bushmen scored the victory despite the Goldbacks’ victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay to finish the afternoon.

“We’re not disappointed,” Newburgh senior Aidan Domanico said. “They just swam really well. We tried our best and didn’t end up winning, bit it was what it is.”

Despite not winning the team title the Goldbacks were successful on an individual level as they qualified five additional swimmers for the upcoming New York state Federation championships on March 1 and 2 at Ithaca College.

Angelo Reade had qualified for the state meet two weeks earlier at the OCIAA Division I championships.

“It feels good,” Mummery said. “It’s been a couple of years since we brought a bunch of kids to states for our team, and it feels good that we’re back to that.”

Thursday’s preliminaries were a big day for the Goldbacks, as most of their qualifying was done on the meet’s first day.

Having come in with Reade already qualified for states in the 50-yard freestyle, Mummery was the first to qualify for the state meet during prelims when he posted a 1:44.79 in the 200-yard freestyle. Mummery also qualified in the 500-yard freestyle preliminaries. He finished second in both events on Saturday.

Then, on Saturday, teammate Peyton Tuttle punched his ticket with a third-place finish in 1:47.32, dropping his time by three seconds in two days.

Domanico qualified in the 100-yard butterfly on Thursday when he posted a 53.36 to meet the state qualifying mark.

“We were pretty hyped up,” Domanico said. “We got a lot of our relays today, too, so we’re going to have a lot of kids there. It’s going to be fun.”

Reade, Velasquez, Domanico and Mummery qualified for states in the 200-yard freestyle relay on Saturday with a third-place finish in 1:29.82.

Newburgh coach Zach Williams was honored as Coach of the Year at the end of the meet.

“I think he deserved it,” Domanico said. “I’m a little biased but I love him to death. He’s coached me since I was in seventh grade, so I’m really happy that he got the recognition he deserves.

He’s a great coach, and a great person, too.”