1 day Ago By Tom Fox
TUNKHANNOCK — All Josh Gaudet wanted to do was bring home a state medal in his senior year. He did one better. As a matter of fact, two better.
The Tunkhannock senior swimmer secured two relay medals and some individual hardware from the PIAA Class 2A Championships at Bucknell University. One year after reaching the B Final at the state swim meet, and with his goal to race in the final group, Gaudet made his senior wish come true. “It was definitely bittersweet for me because this was a sport that I love and spent a lot of time doing,” Gaudet said.
“I really did spend hours in the pool. Just knowing that this was the last time I was going to swim a high-school state meet was sad for me. But also, it definitely ended on a great note.
I had a great group of guys with me, and a great coach. I was so happy to be a part of that team.” For his efforts, Gaudet was selected The Citizens’ Voice Boys Swimmer of the Year.
The Tiger had quite the season. He captured several gold medals at the District 2 Class 2A meet. In addition to relay victories, Gaudet also won two individual events — touching the wall first in the 100 butterfly in 52.
01 and the 100 freestyle in 47.72. At the state meet, the senior kept it going.
Teaming up with Jaden Baltrusaitis, Aidan Mislevy and Kyle Kozloski, the Tiger quartet finished second in the state with a time of 1:28.05, topped only by Indiana’s 1:25.96.
Gaudet also got his individual honor, earning sixth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 48.40. The Tiger senior sat down with The Citizens’ Voice to talk about his start in the sport, why he chose his events and what words of advice he would pass forward to any aspiring swimmers.
Q: Talk about your start in the world of swimming. A: I began swimming when I was around 11. I joined our local age-group program at the school, which was for younger swimmers not at the varsity level.
That’s where my swim journey began. Q: What grew your passion for the sport? A: I just really enjoyed being in the water, and spending time with my teammates at practices. I enjoyed competing a lot.
Swimming was definitely a sport that I found enjoyable and fun. It was just something that I really loved. Q: Was there any moment when you first started swimming where you felt that you could grow and have a lot of success in the sport? A: I know my parents heavily encouraged me to get into swimming and try it initially.
I was unsure of what sport I should play at a younger age, but it was my parents that encouraged me to stick with swimming. They saw that I might have some potential in the sport, so I listened to them and that’s when I joined the age-group program. Q: Any goals or expectations that you set for yourself heading into your senior season? A: I just wanted to go out and have fun.
I made it to states every year since I was a freshman, so I wanted to continue doing that. I made the B Final at states last year, and I really wanted to make the A Final this year and get a medal, which was something that I did end up doing. That was definitely a goal for me.
Q: Were there specific events that you knew you were going to swim this year? A: Our coach does a really good job at moving all the swimmers around so we all get an opportunity to swim each event throughout the season. As it went along, we started to realize that the 100 butterfly and the 100 freestyle were some of my better events, along with the 50 free, which I did in the relay. Q: Any reason why those two were the events you excelled in? A: I think that I spent a lot of time swimming those events over the years.
My freshman year, I was on the states relay as the butterfly swimmer just because we didn’t have a butterflier that year. Out of necessity, I became a butterflier to fill that spot. And freestyle is just more of a natural stroke for me.
Q: But the butterfly seems to be a stroke that you caught onto pretty quickly, correct? A: It took me a long time throughout my high school career to get good at the butterfly. My coach definitely helped me to work on it in practice, especially this year. We spent a lot of time on the butterfly, where in the past, I would just swim a lot of laps freestyle.
I spent a lot of time trying to perfect the stroke by doing different drills and just getting a lot of yards in. Q: What went into perfecting that butterfly? What were some of the tools you used to get better at it? A: For me, I wanted to make sure I had a good core, so I did a lot of work in the weight room. In the pool, it was about watching videos of myself swim vs.
watching videos of the professionals swim. I wanted to critique the technique and listen to my coach. The drills really helped with body placement in the water and placement of my hands in the water.
Q: What was your mindset heading into states this year? A: It was just to place as high as we could as a team in the state. Personally, my mindset was just trying to get as many medals as I could. Q: How special was your time at Tunkhannock? A: Our coach is great, and he puts a lot of time and effort into the sport.
He’s constantly researching and learning about the sport to help us. He’s teaching us different things about the sport. Our team was real dedicated this year, and we had a large turnout, which was nice.
The guys were willing to put in the work to see those positive results at the end. Q: Pass along words of advice to the underclassmen or someone who is maybe on the fence about trying out a new sport. A: If you are interested in a sport or activity, go out and give it a shot.
You never get this opportunity again to go out and try all these different things. At Tunkhannock, the school offers a wide variety of activities. It’s a great opportunity to go out and learn what you are good at.
If my parents hadn’t encouraged me to swim, and if I didn’t listen to them, I wouldn’t have had this great high-school experience. On my own, I never felt like swimming was going to be the sport for me. But I was willing to go out and try it.
And it made a difference..
