Heading into the final county meet in his career with the Princeton High boys swimming team, Alex Petruso drew on his experience.

“When you get older, your best times stop coming out every time,” said senior standout Petruso.

“You have got to work through it. There are specific meets where you train, taper, and work really hard for. This is definitely one of those and I was close to a bunch of best times.”

Petruso took second in both the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke, helping PHS place fourth of 13 schools in the team standings in the meet held at WW/P-North and won by WW/P-South.

In Petruso’s view, the Little Tigers set a positive tone by winning the 200 medley relay to start the preliminary round on Friday.

“That was great to get out with a first place seed in prelims; it was fantastic,” said Petruso.

“It gave everyone a good mindset through the meet. We put on a lot of best times after that and I think that it helped that we did start it off strongly.”

In the championship finals on Saturday, Petruso helped PHS get off to a positive start as it took second in the 200 medley relay. Two events later, Petruso fell just short of getting a title for the Little Tigers, taking second in the 50 free in a  time of 24.60, just 0.59 behind winner Kurt von Autenried of WW-P South.

“I wanted that first place,” said Petruso. “I wanted to beat Kurt; he had a great time, you have to respect that. It was close to a best time for me; there wasn’t anything off about it. The 50 is a crazy race.”

In his final individual race of the competition, Petruso experienced another near miss, taking second in the 100 back with a time of 1:00.82, less than a second behind Joshua Huang of WW/P-South, who came in at 59.84 for the victory

“I was very happy with it; I  definitely splitted very well,” said Petruso. “I just worked on not dying out.”

Capping his day, Petruso swam the opening leg of the 400 free relay, getting PHDS off to a good start as it ended up third.

“Everyone is kind of tired by the end of the meet but everyone gets pumped back up for the last race,” said Petruso.

“Going first, you are able to give everyone a boost. It was a good time; I think I was near first or first. It sets the mentality moving forward.”

Reflecting on his PHS career, Petruso has gotten a boost from the bonds he has formed with his teammates.

“High school and college swimming is a very good team environment; you become family,” said Petruso, who has served as a co-captain of the squad this winter and plans to continue swimming in college. “I have become family with a lot of the guys on this team.”

PHS head coach Carly Misiewicz appreciated Petruso’s even-keeled approach at the county meet.

“Alex had two very good individual swims,” said Misiewicz. “I know he was a little upset after the 50, he wanted to win but he had a really great time. He didn’t let that get to him. He totally shifted his mindset and said you know what, I am going to put all of this into the backstroke and really do what I can for the team. He is very good at shaking things off when things don’t go the way he wants them to.”

Overall, Misiewicz liked the way things went for the Little Tigers on Saturday.

“I think the boys did really, really well,” said Misiewicz. “I told a couple of them I scored it out last night based on how we finished in the prelims and it really could go either way. I made sure to tell them to get in there and fight for it and don’t give up no matter what. Anything can happen, if you are 12th, fight for 11th; if you are sixth, fight for fifth.”

Junior Oliver Hunsbedt did particularly well in the finals, taking second in the 200 individual medley (IM) and third in the 100 breaststroke.

“He had a great meet; I was the most impressed with his 200 IM,” said Misiewicz.

“To me, that was really fighting tooth and nail and not giving up no matter what. I couldn’t be any more proud.”

Another PHS swimmer who showed plenty of fight was senior co-captain Will Kinney, the fifth-place finisher in the 100 free and a relay stalwart.

“Will Kinney is another one who has stepped up this entire season; he reminds me of Stephen Kratzer in the sense that he has been a good swimmer the past three years but senior year is when he really shows up,” said Misiewicz.

“He had a great 100 back, a great 100 free. He swam the fly for us in the two medley relays; he is not a butterflyer and he kept us in the race. He is someone very crucial to have on the 400 free relay and he comes right out of the backstroke.”

With the Public state tournament taking place this month, Misiewicz believes that her swimmers can build on their performance at counties.

“There were a lot of best times across the board and a lot of really close to best times,” said Misiewicz.

“As a coach, that is really all you can ask for. The fact that they are having fun, that is what matters. I told them that from the beginning, at the end of the day, whatever is going to happen is going to happen.”

Petruso, for his part, is looking to have more fun as he takes part in his final state tourney.

“That is always exciting; states is definitely an extremely competitive environment,” said Petruso. “It gets you pumped.”