SARATOGA SPRINGS — A school record 10 members of the Saratoga Springs swim and diving team are headed to the NYSPHSAA Championships this weekend at Ithaca.
Josh Muldner has been the head coach of the Blue Streaks swim team for nine years now. In his words, this year’s team is his best ever.
“[Sending 10 to states] is truly amazing,” said Muldner. “I think it speaks to the strength of the entire team—not just these 10 fantastic athletes—but the whole team. It’s the best team I’ve ever been able to coach.”
It’s not to say Muldner hasn’t coached successful teams in the past. In fact, this year’s team finished third at the Section II Division I meet in early November, as did last year’s Blue Streaks when they became ranked No. 5 in the state; however, this year’s team broke the school record for total team points at sectionals.
Saratoga finished with 407.5 total points behind Shenendehowa (446.5) and Niskayuna (451).
“It speaks to the depth of the team—divers and swimmers combined,” Muldner said. “That speaks to, not just the Suburban Council, but the section as a whole. It’s one of the strongest swim sections in the state. We were third in the section this year with what I believe was a stronger team than last year.”
Section II will be represented by a total of 73 girls (12 divers, 61 swimmers) at the New York State meet.
Finishing amongst the top of Section II means that a team itself has to be just as deep—something Muldner described as an extreme positive and somewhat of a difficulty.
“More than ever before I had girls swimming in every single event,” Muldner said. “This year I had a lot of flexibility and I could move girls around. It’s a blessing and it’s also problematic because you could put anybody in. Choosing the relays was harder than ever because I have so many girls who were at that top level that I was leaving girls off of finals relays who could swim for any other team in the section.”
He must have done a decent job choosing the 200-yard freestyle relay team because they became the first Saratoga Springs representatives to win a relay at sectionals in eight seasons, while setting the school record in the final heat with a time of 1:39.35—the 10th fastest in the state.
That team is made up of senior Maddison Feeley, junior Elle Kolakowski, sophomore Autumn Boxley and freshman Taylor Patnode.
“Madison Feeley has been one of our fastest sprinters,” Muldner said. “She has really taken over in practice and done a fantastic job and it’s led to her success in the pool at sectionals. She’s individually in the 100 freestyle, but has really been an anchor on our relay.”
Both Kolakowski and senior Gabby Celia qualified for two individual events at states.
Last season, Celia finished in eighth place in the 100-yard breaststroke at the state meet, after tying for a share of first place in sectionals. This year, she’s back with the fourth fastest time in the state heading into the meet and an outright first place finish at sectionals with a time of 1:05. That time was just ahead of teammate Emily Danielson, a junior (106.79).
Celia will also be competing in the 200 individual medley.
Kolakowski will compete in her third straight state meet and her first as an individual in the 200 freestyle thanks to her third place finish at sectionals with a time of 1:56.62 in the preliminaries and 1:56.78 in the finals.
Danielson’s second place finish in the 100 breaststroke earned her a spot among the best of the best this weekend. She goes into the meet with the 13th fastest time.
Also heading to states for the Blue Streaks is senior Caroline Kelly, who will swim the freestyle leg of the medley relay, and junior Sophia Tannatta who will swim the butterfly.
Alison Canjura will swim the 200 individual medley for the Blue Streaks, while Saratoga Springs will also compete in the 400 freestyle relay, represented by Celia, Kolakowski, Feeley and Boxley.
We will have to wait until December to see if the state rankings agree with Muldner’s assessment that this year’s team is better than last year’s Streaks, but for now, his team is taking care of business in preliminaries today with finals continuing Saturday.
The team left for Ithaca, along with the rest of the section qualifiers, Thursday morning, as the seniors compete in their last meet as Blue Streaks.
“The group graduating this year has seen continuing improvement and continuing success,” Muldner said.
In addition to seniors Feeley, Celia and Kelly, senior diver Jane Rice garnered 16 points and a third place finish at sectionals in the girls 1-meter dive at sectionals.
“[Rice] has carried us for years now on the boards,” said Muldner, who added that he hopes Rice and the swimmers can repeat the success they had at sectionals. “I’m looking forward to hopefully putting it all together at the state met. It’s hard to duplicate the performance and the level of competition a week and a half later, but we’re hoping to do it.”
Looking to get into some state medal standards, Muldner said he wants his girls see the big picture and appreciate the competition more than anything.
“I want the girls to go in with a focus, but this a great meet, a lot of fun and I want them to enjoy it,” Muldner said Wednesday. “I want them to take it in and live in the moment for this great meet where we’re pulling all the best athletes in our sport together within the state in one meet.”
