Boys Swimming Noah Basista Boardman

Noah Basista is looking into studying actuarial science — where he figures out probabilities across a wide set of fields.

How this for a prediction? Basista thought Boardman’s boys swim team could go undefeated.

His probability skills were on point and in the pool, he’s been making his own numbers drop. After the Spartans turned in the first undefeated season in school history, the junior swimmer qualified in four different events at the Division I Ohio High School Swimming and Diving Championships in Canton — the 100 breaststroke, the 100 butterfly and was apart of the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

“We dominated our first meet, a quad meet with [Warren Harding, North Canton Hoover and Canfield] and we usually win that meet by 20 or 30 points. We won by 70 to 100 points. It was a statement meet for us,” Basista said. “Two weeks later, we face [Massillon Jackson] who we haven’t beat in 10 years. We switch around our lineup and I swam different events than I normally do. I swam in the 50 freestyle to beat one of their top guys — and I touch him out.

“We won that meet and once we were past Jackson, I knew we could dominate the area. We just had to finish it off.”

Across the four events, Basista was eighth in the breaststroke, 22nd in the butterfly, 13th in the 200 relay and 15th in the 400 relay. His time in the breaststroke — 56.48 seconds — set a new school record.

“That was a goal of mine for a couple years now,” Basista said. “It was a great topper for everything else.”

A few Division I schools have started to inquire about Basista, but no offers have materialized yet. West Virginia, Miami (Ohio), Binghamton and Bucknell are among the interested schools.

Even though his high school season is over, Basista is not done dropping times. Swimming for the Youngstown YMCA Y-Neptune swim team in the 2019 Great Lake Zones Championship Meet, he won the 100 and 200 breaststroke — setting meet records in the process — and the 200 individual medley on the three-day meet from March 15-17. In addition to the three events that he won, he also qualified for nationals as part of the 200 Medley, 200 freestyle, 400 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams for the YMCA Short Course National Championship Meet in Greensboro, N.C. starting April 1.

“It’s icing on the cake. The main focus is always the high school season and to be able to have another month of the year where you can swim, I’m really grateful,” Basista said.

— Brian Dzenis, The Vindicator