Josh Johnson went into Saturday’s Section 9 boys’ swimming and diving championship meet looking to set a new meet record in the 100-yard butterfly.

He missed that by less than a second, but instead he had to settle for two Section 9 championships as he won the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle to lead the Marlboro Dukes to a ninth place finish at Valley Central High School.

“(Winning) was all right,” Johnson said. “I wanted the record, though.”

Johnson entered the meet already qualified for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships on March 3 and 4 at Ithaca College in the 100-yard butterfly.

His finals time of 52.03 seconds was good enough to outrace Rondout Valley’s Andrew Kassian, but his best time in the 100-yard butterfly was posted on February 3 at the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I championships when he swam a 51.45.

“Usually, you just want to go hard right from the start,” Johnson said.

Speaking of going hard from the start, he also came into the meet already qualified for states in the 50-yard freestyle, entering the meet with a 22.06 seed time. He swam a season-best 21.98 to win the event, ahead of Rondout Valley’s Jack Samko.

But there was no relief, even though his season was already guaranteed to continue.

“There’s a lot of fast people here, so it doesn’t really take any of the pressure off,” Johnson said.

Overall, the Dukes finished ninth with 95 points. Monroe-Woodbury own the championship with 293 points.

Ayden Baxter was third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:56.06. He missed the state cut by about four seconds.

Section 9 Swimming and Diving Championships
Team results: 1. Monroe-Woodbury - 293; 9. Marlboro – 95.
200-yard medley relay: 1. Monroe-Woodbury (Nicholas Bruno, Ariel Koyfman, Dylan Cobb, Anthony Kaminskiy) - 1:38.06; 10. Marlboro (Josh Johnson, Ayden Baxter, Jordan Johnson, Christopher Felker) - 1:49.13.
200-yard freestyle: 1. Jesse Abramson (Warwick) - 1:43.07.

200-yard individual medley: 1. Finn Quested (Rhinebeck) - 1:54.48.
50-yard freestyle: 1. Josh Johnson (Marlboro) - 21.98; 20. Jordan Johnson (Marlboro) - 24.46.
Diving: 1. Luke Albanese (Goshen) - 566.00.
100-yard butterfly: 1. Josh Johnson (Marlboro) - 52.03; 32. Jordan Johnson (Marlboro) - 1:05.77.
100-yard freestyle: 1. Tomek Oakes (PB) - 47.94.
500-yard freestyle: 1. Jesse Abramson (Warwick) - 4:47.41; 3. Ayden Baxter (Marlboro) - 4:56.06; 23. Christopher Felker (Marlboro) - 5:48.77.
200-yard freestyle: 1. Warwick (Jesse Abramson, Youssef Moustafa, Michael Kelly, Connor Holland) - 1:30.01; 9. Marlboro (Ayden Baxter, Christopher Felker, Jordan Johnson, Josh Johnson) - 1:37.28.
100-yard backstroke: 1. Finn Quested (Rhinebeck) - 50.10.
100-yard breaststroke: 1. Andrew Sammons (Kingston) - 59.33; 10. Ayden Baxter (Marlboro) - 1:06.84.
400-yard freestyle relay: 1. Warwick (Jesse Abramson, Youssef Moustafa, Michael Kelly, Connor Holland) - 3:17.12.