Freedom swimmer AJ Black knew it was going to be a good day after he swam the breaststroke in the 200 medley relay on Tuesday; after all, the Patriot sophomore swam a good leg, ahead of a bigger challenge in the 100 breast, going against East Stroudsburg North’s Jacob Cruz near meet’s end that afternoon at Freedom.

“Breaststroke is what I swim, and I knew that they had a good breaststroker who had a better time than me, so going up, I was thinking, I gotta go fast, I gotta go fast,” Black said.

Black and Cruz raced side-by-side for the first 75 yards with Cruz leading as they approached the last turn.

“And then on that last 25 where he happened to be in front of me, all I was thinking was, you gotta go faster, so that’s basically what I did,” said Black. “Coach Alexa was telling us about an Olympian who, in the last 15 meters, knew he’d been behind, so at that point, put his head down, working hard, and that’s all that was going through my mind.”

Black touched the wall in 1:12.54. Cruz touched in 1:13.62.

“It was exhilarating, realizing I hit the wall, and then I turn and look, and I saw that [Cruz] had just hit the wall, and I realized, oh my God, I did it. It was very intense,” said Black, who was congratulated by teammates before he walked to the other side of the deck to chat with Cruz. “I was just telling him he’s amazing at breaststroke. He’s a junior, so it’s going to be a great matchup next year.”

It was a good day, indeed, for Black, and for the Patriot boys who won their meet against East Stroudsburg North, 80-61.

Black was joined by Andrew Ehret, Luke McClure, and Ryan Rummel in the medley relay, taking first place in 1:49.68, and winning the 200 free relay in 1:41.96.

Rummel went on to lead the Pates to a one, two, three finish in the 100 freestyle with a time of 56.90, followed by Black, and Drew Harvey.

Ehret also led the Pates to a one, two, three finish in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.40, followed by Somak Roy and Harvey.

Rummel took first place in the 50 free in 25.12, and McClure was the winner in the 100 butterfly in 59.30.

On Friday, Freedom’s boys visited neighbor Moravian Academy, defeating the Lions, 108-65, and the Patriot medley relay foursome placed first and bettered Tuesday’s time by four seconds.

Rummel dropped one second in the 100 free, and close to one second in the 50 free, while McClure dropped almost two seconds in the 100 fly.

Freedom’s next swim meet is scheduled for Thursday when they will host Southern Lehigh.