The Pine Bush Bushmen planned it from the first day of the season.

If they won the Section 9 championship, they would tackle coach Kevin Blackwell into the pool.

The championship was won, and Blackwell was dunked as they won three events, finished second in two and third in one, and scored 319 points to win Saturday’s Section 9 boys’ swimming and diving championship on Saturday at Valley Central High School.

“It feels really good,” Pine Bush’s Bryce Sloley said. “We’ve been working for it for five years now since I was in eighth grade. This has been the moment leading up to it.”

Sloley finished second in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.69 and third in the 100-yard butterfly in 51.17 seconds. Both are state qualifying times. He also helped the Bushmen lead off the finals with a win in the 200-yard medley relay. He also was part of the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team with Jack Vuksanovich, Dominic Licardi and Tomek Oakes.

Oakes was the Bushmen’s lone individual champion when he won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:55.20 and finished second in the 100-yard freestyle in 47.25 seconds. Both are state qualifying times.

“It was very stressful,” Oakes said. “We were looking at the math. It was exactly what we expected. We thought we’d be better at the end of the day, but both teams swam crazy, and astounding. Newburgh’s taper was crazy, as well.

They really showed up on their half. Today was probably the most fun I’ve had in a while.”

The Bushmen were in good position, heading into the final event of the day: the 400-yard freestyle relay. Even though Newburgh won the event, the Bushmen’s seventh-place finish gave them enough points to win the meet.

Neither Sloley nor Oakes were in that event and were limited to watching from poolside. Unable to finish any less than eighth, which would have given them 22 points, the Bushmen were positioned to win as long as they didn’t get disqualified.

“It was really hectic,” Sloley said. “We were counting off every single start making sure it wasn’t false, and after the last guy jumped in, we started celebrating.”

In addition to winning the team championship, the Bushmen also qualified six swimmers to the state meet. Sloley and Oakes will go to the states with Liam Blackwell and Dominic Licardi in the 200-yard medley relay. The 200-yard freestyle relay team also qualified for states in the preliminaries.

Kaeden Fisher qualified for the state meet in the 1-meter diving event when he scored a 499.30 at the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II championships. He finished fourth at sectionals.

Vuksanovich qualified in the 100-yard freestyle at the preliminaries with a time of 48.27 seconds. He finished sixth in the section.

Liam Blackwell qualified for the state meet in the 100-yard backstroke preliminaries with a time of 53.97. He further improved his time in the finals and finished sixth overall.