ITHACA – Providing a fitting climax to his high school career, Cazenovia High School senior Quinn Smith competed in two events at last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association boys swimming championships.
The state meet began Friday at Ithaca College as Smith, who swam with Fayetteville-Manlius this winter, vied for top times in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke.
It was winning both of these events at the Feb. 16 Section III Class A meet that garnered Smith Outstanding Swimmer honors, and he looked to, at the very least, improve on those times he set there.
The school record-holder in the 100 backstroke with 52.69 seconds, Smith entered the meet with the no. 18 seed. By going 52.91 in the qualifying round, Smith advanced to Saturday’s finals in 15th place overall.
It proved a near-identical time in the finals, Smith going 52.92 seconds. That put him 15th in the Federation standings and 12th among NYSPHSAA swimmers as the winner, Burnt Hills’ Sam Brown, set a meet record by going 48.66.
Meanwhile, in the 200 IM, Smith was 24th going into the state meet with his time of 1:57.53. He immediately broke his own school mark, improving to 1:57.32 in the qualifying round, moving up to 16th place.
Saturday’s final had Smith put up another record performance, finishing in 1:56.55. That left him 13th in both the NYSPHSAA and Federation standings in a race won by Lancaster’s Aaron Gasiewicz in 1:50.49.
