Newsday's All-Long Island boys swimming and diving team 2025 - Newsday
It’s been a season full of gold medals for St. Anthony’s senior Noah Cakir, and his performance at the New York State Boys Federation swim championship proved to be no different.
“He just did what he always does,” coach Dan McBride said. “He just gets in there, takes it seriously, and he tore the pool up.”
It didn’t take very long for him to see success in the pool. In the very first event, the 200-yard medley relay team of Cakir, James Augustin, Keanne Hernandez and Lorenzo Aquilino took first in the federation in 1 minute, 31.03 seconds.
Two events later, Cakir took first in the 200 individual medley in 1:46.51. Later that meet, Cakir earned his third federation title of the day in the 100 breaststroke, setting a New York State meet record and All-American time of 53.35. He also broke his own record in the event, 53.64 last year.
“I just always keep pushing through and it’s worked out in my favor,” Cakir said. “I’m not focused on records, just trying to get my hand on that wall first.”
St. Anthony's Noah Cakir competes in the the 200 Individual Medley during the CHSAA City Swimming Championships at Nassau Aquatic Center in East Meadow on Feb. 12. Credit: Brad Penner
To finish it off, the same senior medley relay group took home the 400 medley relay crown after finishing in 3:04.64.
“All four of us are seniors and we’ve been focusing on it all year,” Cakir said. “It’s all teamwork and the bonding we’ve done is a big part of it.”
Cakir is no stranger to winning. At the NYCHSAA State Championships in early February at Nassau Aquatic Center, he finished first in both the 200 IM (1:47.73) and the 100 breaststroke (54.01).
Cakir will swim at Indiana University next year.
“What I’ve seen him do over the last four years is absolutely incredible,” McBride said. “It was kind of a storybook ending, and you couldn’t have written it better.”
Bellmore-Merrick swimmer Will Siegel’s senior state championship performance truly reflects that hard work pays off.
Siegel took home two state championship wins in public schools, finishing first in the state in the 200 freestyle in 1:38.82 and 500 freestyle in 4:27.53 at Ithaca College on March 8.
“I was excited for this meet,” Siegel said. “I was super pumped up and was definitely feeling the adrenaline when I touched the wall in both races.”
Siegel hasn’t participated in the state championship meet since his freshman year. In 2022, he finished 25th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:51.60.
“I’ve just grown overall as a person,” Siegel said. “There was a lot of change over the last three years; I probably grew about half of a foot. But really it’s the effort and dedication that’s made me improve.”
Will Siegel of Bellmore-Merrick competes in the 500-yard freestyle during the Nassau boys swimming individual championships and state qualifiers at Nassau Aquatic Center on Feb. 8. Credit: James Escher
Siegel will continue his swimming career at the University of Michigan next year,
“It feels really good to bring home state championships for my school, but it’s also going to be hard to say goodbye to this great group of kids and my coach that I’ve known for four years,” Siegel said.
Siegel says the transition to Michigan won’t be easy; he recognizes that his success will come with time, just like it did in his high school career.
“Moving on to Michigan, it’s going to be another challenge,” he said. “I’m going to need even more hard work and determination, I’m no longer going to be up there with the best and win, It’s going to be like my freshman year again.”
He finished second in the state in the 500 freestyle in 4:31.23 and second in the 100 butterfly in 48.68. He finished first in Nassau in the 100 butterfly in 49.19 and second in the 500 freestyle in 4:40.02.
He finished second in the state in the 100 backstroke in 49.61. He was second in Suffolk in the 100 backstroke (50.98) and third in the 200 freestyle (1:46.60).
Gallub placed fourth in the state in the 50 freestyle (20.98). He finished first in Suffolk in the 50 freestyle in 21.24 and first in the 100 freestyle in 46.85 and was a member of the first-place 200 medley relay team (1:36.56) and the first-place 200 medley relay team (1:27.43).
He finished second in the state in the 200 IM with a personal best of 1:49.94. The Minnesota commit finished first in Suffolk in the 100 backstroke in 50.49, and first in the 200 IM in 1:51.05.
He finished second in the state in the 100 breaststroke in 55.55. In Nassau, he was second in the 100 breaststroke and fourth in the 200 IM in 1:56.38.
The Dartmouth commit finished first in the state in the 100 breaststroke in 53.95, setting a Nassau county record, and sixth in the 200 IM in 1:53.13. He finished first in Nassau in the 100 breaststroke in 54.17 and second in the 200 IM in 1:53.86.
He finished second in the state in the 1-meter diving championships with a score of 550.95 and he was first in Nassau with 583.05.
The seniors won the 200-medley relay with a Federation and state meet record time of 1:31.03. The same group won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:04.64.
The former SUNY New Paltz swimmer helped build the Locust Valley boys swimming program, which had 15 swimmers in its first season. Senglaub said that despite the challenges that come with a first-year team, she looks forward to continuing to build the program up and see even more success. "I'm so hopeful for the future," Senglaub said. "We had such great interest, having the high numbers that we did, and I really only hope that it goes up from here."
