This hard work paid off, as the Swimming Tigers defeated the North Babylon Bulldogs by a score of 73-62 last Thursday at the Deer Park High School Natatorium.

“The boys on this team are extremely dedicated to what they do and I’m glad they go this win tonight,” said Scott, who was a star at the breaststroke for Huntington High School and Misericordia University in Pennsylvania.

In addition to the league win, Northport had two swimmers qualify for the Suffolk County Championship in February.

Senior Blake Rossi will go to counties in the 100-yard butterfly and 50-yard freestyle events, shattering the latter time by more than 7 seconds with an impressive 56.82

“I expect him to shave even more time off that mark in the counties,” said Scott.

“I’m glad to see the work pay off in the pool,” said the senior and team captain Rossi, who is ranked 12^th in Suffolk County so far this season. “I’m hoping to continue to improve and place highly at counties, enough so to qualify for States.”

Freshman Kyle Sundberg, the lone underclassman on the team of eight, qualified in the 100-yard breaststroke, swimming the event in 1:10.55, a second and a half better than the time to beat. He’s currently ranked in the top 20 in Suffolk.

“Kyle is a very coachable individual and he has improved so much,” said Scott. “I think he can blossom into a special swimmer and I look forward to working with him in the years ahead.”

Sundberg has enjoyed not only his early success but the camaraderie he gets by being on the team.

“I’m so excited to make the cut for Counties in my first year on Varsity, said Sundberg. “I can’t wait to have three more years to compete for Northport and push myself as a swimmer in this league. Being a part of this team has been a great experience.”

Although the team has an ‘exclusive’ membership this year with only Scott’s octet of swimmers, he feels that he can add to his Suffolk qualifiers.

“I’d love to get at least one more relay team in Counties,” said Scott, who in addition to his coaching duties in Chemistry Teacher at St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington. “These young men are extremely coachable and have put forth enormous efforts and it shows in their times.”

Seniors Braden Greenberg and Michael Gorney join Sundberg and Rossi on the 400-yard freestyle relay team and have been knocking seconds off of their time as the season has progressed.

Greenberg, who won the 200 yard freestyle race by three full seconds, has been a four-year starter on the swim team and also played Wide Receiver on the football team this fall, is proud of his progression as a swimmer.

“I think I’ve really improved as an all-around athlete by being a member of this team for four years,” said Greenberg. “We don’t have a big team like we do with football, so it’s kind of a different vibe, but we do push each other to get better.”

The Tigers will have three opportunities to get better before the Counties. They swam against East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson on Jan 11 and race against Deer Park and Hauppauge to close out the regular season later in the month. Seniors Karl Leonard, Jonah Gold, Kurt Wagner, and Jonathan Tacuri round out the roster and if this group continues at its current rate of improvement, the Tigers might send an even larger group to Counties and beyond.

“I have always pushed my athletes to do the best they possibly could, and we, historically, have had a strong showing at the county and state championships”, said Scott. “I am excited to see what this group of young men are capable of putting forward and watching them wrap up their season. Hopefully we can gain more qualifiers for the county and state championships within the coming weeks.”