From the left are Frewsburg/Falconer/Jamestown/Southwestern swimmers Landon Frederes, Conner Dean, Miles Moore, Grady Moore, Aidan McCleery and Ethan Swan, who will be competing at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships today and tomorrow at Ithaca College. Missing is Xander Pitts and Daniel Peterson. Photo courtesy of Shelly Phillips

As Landon Frederes, Conner Dean, Miles Moore, Grady Moore, Aidan McCleery and Ethan Swan look to take their place on the deck at one end of the pool at Southwestern Elementary School, they take instruction from a handful of coaches, parents and photographers.

The purpose of the photo-op for the state qualifiers from the Frewsburg/Falconer/Jamestown/Southwestern swim team is to capture them as they simultaneously jump into the deep end, a fun respite from the grind of preparing for this weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships at Ithaca College.

So it’s up to Grady Moore to offer instruction to his teammates.

“Jump when I say jump,” he bellows. “We jump on ‘Go!'”

After some last-second back-and-forth with the assembled observers, Grady, the designated “quarterback,” calls the play.

“Three, two, one,” he yells, “Go!”

In the blink of an eye, they disappear into the pool, but not before some pretty cool pics are captured by photographer extraordinaire Shelly Phillips. When the digital image is shared a short time later, it looks like several of the teenagers are literally standing on top of the water.

Given how the teenagers, who also include diver Alexander Pitts — he isn’t present due to a school commitment — have performed this winter, it’s not hard to imagine them performing such a miracle.

All one has to do is check their performances this winter as confirmation.

Coaches Bruce Johnson, Ian Moore, Glen Shoup, Mitch Simons, Scott Scholeno and Nancy Johnson certainly have been watching closely, and they like what they’ve seen.

“‘Wow,’ would be my opening statement,” Bruce Johnson said with a smile.

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How good has the Bears’ team been this season?

Well, in the first meet, Johnson’s crew set seven records, beginning what has been a historical run, arguably the best collective effort in the program’s history. It all culminates with the state championships, which begin today and continue through Saturday.

For the record, Dean (200-yard individual medley); Miles Moore (50-yard freestyle); McCleery (50-yard freestyle and 100 yard freestyle); and Grady Moore (100-yard butterfly) all have qualified for individual events, but they chose instead to combine their talents and only compete in the 200-yard medley (1:35.57), the 200-yard freestyle (1:25.44) and the 400-yard freestyle (3:09.73) relays.

“The kids made the decision to go for all three relays,” Johnson said. “We were planning to go for just the 200 medley and 400 free, but then at the state qualifier meet we swam 1:25.44, which is an All-American consideration time. … Some of them had to give up an individual event to do it, but they made that decision, which is fine with me, so we’ll see what happens.”

The Bears’ 200 medley relay is composed of Frederes (backstroke), Dean (breastroke), Grady Moore (butterfly) and Miles Moore (freestyle).

“That is the third fastest seed time, but the team that was the fastest — St. Anthony’s (1:31.95) — is missing their breastroker, who is their ‘guy,'” Johnson said. “He’s nowhere in the meet. … That’s going to slow them down about two or three seconds — 1:31 to 1:34 — and we’re at 1:35.”

The fourth-seeded 200-yard freestyle relay will feature, in order, McCleery, Dean, Grady Moore and Miles Moore, while the third-seeded 400-yard freestyle relay will include McCleery, Grady Moore, Dean and Miles Moore.

“We think we have a shot to win, one of them anyway,” Johnson said. “You never know, especially in the 200 free relay and the 200 medley relay. Anything can happen.

“I’d say if we finished in the top eight in all of them, which is a distinct possibility, we would be really happy with that, but there’s always that (feeling) it would be nice to win one and be at the top of that podium.”

The Bears’ time in the 400 freestyle relay broke a Section VI record.

“It didn’t really sink in until a few days after,” Johnson said. “The record we broke was 26 years old, and how many years before that has there been swimming? And we’re the fastest ever? It’s kind of humbling.”

Also representing the Bears this weekend is Pitts, who will be diving at states for the second straight year.

“I think he’s really improved,” Johnson said. “He’s increased the degree of difficulty in four or five dives. … I think he’s got a legitimate shot to place.”

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In last year’s state meet, the Bears’ best finish was in the 200 freestyle relay where the team of Gannon, Grady and Miles Moore and Brady Lindstrom placed sixth among public schools and seventh overall.

“We were 7-10ths of a second from winning,” Johnson said.

Twelve months later, the expectations are even greater.

“We just kept getting faster and faster all year,” Johnson said. “Hopefully we have enough left to have one more good drop and maybe a state championship.”

One interested observer from afar has been former Jamestown High School coach and Chautauqua Sports Hall of Famer Bill Rollinger, who coached when Johnson was a swimmer at JHS 50 years ago.

“He was the first person I ran into at the (CSHOF) banquet (on Feb. 19) and he gave me a big bear hug,” said Johnson, who has been a coach himself for 46 years. “He said, ‘Your kids are swimming so fast. What are you doing to make them so fast?’ I said, ‘We’re just swimming fast in practice. We’re just sprinting away.”