South's Rogers achieves goals at state swim meet
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South's Drew Rogers lowered his school-record time in the 200-yard freestyle by a second and a half at last weekend's New York State Championships held at Erie Community College's Burt Flickinger Center. He also broke the school record in the 100 free. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase photos at www.BeeNews.com

Williamsville South's Drew Rogers wanted to break the school record in the 100-yard freestyle and finish in the top eight in the 100 and 200 free at last weekend's New York State Swimming and Diving Championships at Erie Community College's Burt Flickinger Center. He did both.

The senior broke the school record in the 100 free in 47.97 in Saturday's finals to finish sixth in the state meet and seventh in the Federation meet. As an added bonus, he lowered his own school record in the 200 free set at the Section VI Championships by a second and a half with a 1:44.39 and finished sixth at the state meet and seventh in the Federation meet. His old record was 1:45.54.

"I worked hard all season and it's nice to have a sense of accomplishment," said Rogers.

Rogers said he swam the best preliminary times of his life (100 free - 48.42; 200 free - 1:45.54) on Friday and said his finals times could have been better had he had a day to rest.

"Each time I got out of water, I checked my scores and was dropping time," said Rogers. "I looked at the 100 free score and looked at my coach (Richard Grampp) and shook my head."

It was Rogers' second appearance at states. Last year, he took 19th in the 100 free and 22th in the 200 free at prelims. This year, he said his hard work throughout the year, which includes swimming for his club team, Tonawanda Titans, and the hometown crowd cheering him out, got him going this year.

"The crowd gave me a lot of adrenaline and made me want to go faster."

Rogers' college plans are undecided but wherever he goes, he wants to swim.

Williamsville East Sophomore Matt Geiger finished seventh in the public school race and 10th in the Federation race in the 100-yard backstroke (53.66). He swam a 53.63 in prelims, which placed him eighth in public school and ninth in the Federation.

Geiger was a second off his personal best in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 56.24 for 40th place.

Junior Kane Hsieh was 37th in the 100 breast in 1:04.32.

"It was a fantastic finish for both," said East coach Mike Doerfler.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com