Hills' DeBlasio takes 2 Federation titles
Half Hollow Hills East High School senior Matt DeBlasio emerges from the water during the butterfly portion of the 200 yard individual medley event in the NYSPHSAA varsity boys swimming state championships held at Nassau Aquatic Center. He claimed the federation crown by posting a time of 1:50.93 in the event, then went on to win the 100 yard backstroke as well with a time of 50.71. (March 5, 2011) Credit: James Escher
For a year now, Half Hollow Hills swimmer Matt DeBlasio has had to live with the caveat. He could say he was a state champion, but had to add that it was the public schools championships and not the Federation, which encompasses times of private and CHSAA schools. In other words, not the whole shebang. There was at least one person better than him.
Now someone else will have to live with that knowledge.
DeBlasio took first in the Federation in the 200-yard individual medley (1:50.93) and the 100 backstroke (50.71), the only double winner from Long Island Saturday at the state public schools and Federation championships at Nassau Aquatic Center.
As a team, St. Anthony's took fifth with 114 points, Half Hollow Hills placed 15th with 58 and Great Neck South came in 16th with 51 points. Fordham Prep was the overall winner with 174.
"Everybody used to be like, 'still one guy beat you, it doesn't matter what school he goes to,' " said DeBlasio, who was named outstanding competitor at the Suffolk championships. "But now nobody beat me."
The 200 IM was barely a contest, as DeBlasio not only posted the fastest final time, but also the quickest times in three of the four strokes during the race. Only the breaststroke gave him trouble - he was actually the slowest among competitors in the final heat - but he had built up such a lead before that, his finish was never in doubt.
"My breaststroke's definitely my worst stroke, so I just take out the first hundred and hope that my lead will carry me through," he said. "I know I can take it home on the freestyle on anyone."
DeBlasio may have been the name on the marquee Saturday, but there were plenty of other Long Island acts who had their moment in the spotlight, too.
St. Anthony's standout Bernil Carmichael-Lopes took second in the 100 breaststroke (57.25) and fellow Friar Christian Yeager finished fourth in the 200 IM (1:54.49). They both helped lead the Friars to a third-place Federation finish in the 200 medley relay as Yeager, Carmichael-Lopes, Christopher Cannon and Bryan Galan posted a time of 1:34.92, just 0.42 seconds off the lead.
"It shows that we work really hard, every practice, every meet," said Carmichael-Lopes, who added that it was gratifying to race against L.I. public schools. "Most of these guys I've known since I was younger, so it feels good to race them again."
Great Neck South, featuring Sam Mo, Ben Ching, Patrick Yang and Dan Mo, placed fourth in the public schools 200 medley relay (1:37.38), breaking the Nassau record.
"It was a really good start," said Sam Mo, the Nassau championships outstanding competitor. "I just thought we could have kept it up."
Mo was also part of the most L.I.-heavy event of the day, with three Islanders competing in the championship finals of the 100 butterfly. Rocky Point's Matthew Dutton finished first (50.46) in the public schools finals, followed by Patchogue Medford's Everett Vazquez (50.79) and Mo(50.84). Dutton, who was seeded behind Vazquez and Mo in the event, improved his preliminary time by 0.74 seconds to outpace them.
Of course, Dutton only won the public schools championships. He still has someone else in front of him. Fuel for next year.
