PB relay team captures state title

By Mike Zummo
Posted 11/24/21

The Pine Bush girls’ swimming team has crowned a state champion.

Pine Bush’s team of Elishka Hajek, Samantha McKee, Cora Mance and Mackenzie Gula won the New York State Public High …

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PB relay team captures state title

Posted

The Pine Bush girls’ swimming team has crowned a state champion.

Pine Bush’s team of Elishka Hajek, Samantha McKee, Cora Mance and Mackenzie Gula won the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship, about a quarter-second ahead of second-place Victor-Bloomfield, finishing with a time of 1:36.88.

Pine Bush finished second in the New York State Federation race as their time was nearly 2 seconds behind Sacred Heart Academy of the New York State Catholic High School Athletic Association.

Their time also broke the Section 9 record of 1:37.84 set in 1996 by Newburgh Free Academy and was good enough for All-American consideration.

It was one of three sectional records the Bushmen set on Saturday, as Hajek knocked down two individual records.

Hajek finished third in the NYSPHSAA and Federation in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.43, breaking the Section 9 record of 23.50 set by Cornwall’s Brienne Ryan. She also finished fourth in the NYSPHSAA and Federation in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.54, but it was Friday’s preliminary time of 51.49 that broke the previous mark of 51.57, set by Cornwall’s Katrice Ewanich in 2005.

Hajek, Katie Webster, Madaghan O’Shea and Gula were second in the NYSPHSAA and third in the Federation in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:34.65.

Pine Bush’s 200-yard medley relay team of O’Shea, Sadie DeGeorge, Ashley Martin and Mance were 18th in the 200-yard medley relay, with an eighth-place finish in the B Final in 1:53.67, less than a 1-second increase over Friday’s preliminary time of 1:52.75.

Gula was 20th in the in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.50.

DeGeorge finished 37th in the 200-yard individual medley on Friday with a time of 2:16.97, which was more than a second above her previous state qualifying time.

Valley Central’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Rian Dickman, Grace Satriano, Grace Wienckowski and Cali White were 11th in the NYSPHSAA and 13th in the Federation with a time of 1:41.01.

They also finished 20th in the NYSPHSAA and 21st in the Federation with a time of 3:42.46, nearly three seconds better than their preliminary time of 3:45.09.

Dickman finished 23rd in the NYSPHSAA and 27th in the Federation in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:58.58, a 2-second drop over her preliminary time of 2:00.99.

White was 33rd in the in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.43, slightly above her state qualifying time of 54.20, while Dickman was 39th with a time of 55.22, more than a second above her qualifier.