

Cornwall's Burns qualifies for three state swimming events

By William Montgomery

Times Herald-Record

MONTGOMERY — Dylan Burns came close to qualifying for the state meet in the 50-yard freestyle last season, but he missed the cut by a tantalizing 0.12 seconds.

This weekend, Burns not only punched his ticket to the state meet, he did so in a trio of events.

Burns, a Cornwall senior, won the 50 freestyle in 21.93 and placed second in the 100 freestyle in a time of 48.59, both state-qualifying times. He is also a part of Cornwall's 200 freestyle relay team, which won a Section 9 meet title with a state-qualifying time of 1:28.15.

"It was honestly insane," Burns said. "Getting every state-qualifying time was probably the best moment of my swimming career so far."

It was a good weekend for a number of Section 9 swimmers, as five relay teams clinched berths at the state meet, as did five swimmers in eight individual spots. The state meet will be held March 1 and 2 at Webster Schroeder High School in the Rochester suburbs.

"Once you realized that you've accomplished every goal you set your mind to, it's like everything just fell into place," said Burns.

Crumm, Golden, Rusek honored

Minisink Valley senior James Crumm was named outstanding swimmer of the meet after winning both the 100 and 200 freestyle events and swimming the anchor leg on the Warriors' Section 9-champion 400 freestyle relay team.

His head coach, Brian Golden, was named Section 9 Coach of the Year. Minisink Valley, which had won three dual meets during the 2011-12 season, went 13-1 this season, finishing in second place behind Pine Bush.

"Getting the individual award, you know what? My team did awesome, so that's all that matters," said Crumm, who will swim at Niagara University next season.

Each time Crumm strode to the podium, he donned a T-shirt that read "In memory of John Behler." Behler, 20, died in a car crash on Feb. 2. He was a former Minisink Valley student-athlete who had battled cancer as a senior in 2010.

Warwick sophomore Nick Rusek, who won the Section 9 diving title Thursday evening, was named the meet's most outstanding diver.

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