Hewlett boys swimming makes history with first county title since 1992

Think swimming is just an individual sport? Think again.

The Hewlett boys swimming team, who demonstrated all the makings of a strong team throughout the season, made history with its performance at the Nassau championships Feb. 11 at the Nassau Aquatic Center.

Hewlett won its first county title as a team since 1992, according to coach Gregg Solnick, with 395 points. Syosset (362) finished second and Jericho (312) was third.

“Swimming is an individual sport, but on varsity, it’s really a team sport,” said Jonah Kirschbaum, a junior swimmer. “And I can’t emphasize enough how much of a team effort this was to win the title. Our mentality was to win. We went into counties to win, and make history.”

Hewlett had contributions all over the lineup. Kirschbaum won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.38 seconds and placed second in the 100 freestyle. David Kushnirsky won the 100 backstroke in 57.36 seconds and was seventh in the 200 individual medley. 

Ethan Nus placed second in the 200 individual medley and third in the 100 butterfly, Ethan Silver finished second in the 200 freestyle and third in the 500 freestyle, Ethan Golduber was second in the 100 backstroke and Ryan Shapiro was sixth in the 100 butterfly and 10th in the 200 freestyle. The Bulldogs also had three swimmers score points in the ‘B’ final.

Golduber, Kushnirsky, Nus and Kirschbaum won the 200 medley relay in 1:34.78, and Golduber, Silver, Nus and Kirschbaum won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:12.39. Jacob Kogan, Kushnirsky, Shapiro and Silver finished second in the 200 freestyle relay.  

“You would think swimming is an individual sport, but in high school swimming it’s a big team concept and everyone’s important,” Solnick said. “We had kids score top three but the kids who got 11-20 (place) are equally important because if you’re not getting those, it’s very hard to get enough points to win the meet.”

Cash is money

Long Beach's Joseph Cash won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:40.87 and 100 freestyle in 46.97 seconds. He wasn’t the top seed in either event after Friday’s preliminary races but saved his best swim for the biggest stage.

New era of diving?

Tristan Yang, of Jericho, won the diving county title as a freshman with a score of 575.50. He finished second in the county championships last year and fourth at the state tournament. Since he’s only a freshman, Yang could be poised to go on a long, dominating run in Long Island diving.

The perfect ending

Hewlett finished the county meet as strong as it started — taking the 400 freestyle relay in the final event. The Bulldogs understood as long as they weren't disqualified in the final event, they’d win the county title. But the swimmers wanted one more title, winning the relay in 3:12.39 with Syosset finishing second at 3:15.24.

“Once I jumped in the water last and I made sure I had a safe start,” Kirschbaum said, “I tried to bring home the win in the 400 free to put an exclamation point on a near perfect counties for us.”

Not only near perfect, but also historic.

“It was so exciting,” Solnick said. “It was surreal and they were pumped. Me and the other coach just looked at each other and said, ‘Hey, we just won a county championship.’ We couldn’t believe it.”

Solnick saw the focus in his swimmers all season long. And it culminated with some of the best performances of the season at the county championships.

“I saw our team cheering for every kid that was in the water, so I think they took a lot of pride in it,” Solnick said. “I would hear them saying, ‘We want to do this, let’s do this.’ Their focus was on winning the county championship and they really were there for everyone else.”