Newsday Athlete of the Week is Hewlett's David Kushnirsky

David Kushnirsky couldn’t help but laugh.

The Hewlett senior had just won the state public school swimming championship in the 100-yard breaststroke. But he was 0.01 seconds away from the race’s state public school record.

Kushnirsky finished the race in 53.95 seconds at Ithaca College on March 8, just behind Jason Louser (Shoreham-Wading River) who clocked in at 53.94 in 2019.

“I was very much shooting for the state record,” Kushnirsky said. “When I saw I missed it by 0.01, I thought it was a little bit funny, so I started laughing. After I got past that, I was very happy because it’s just a relief to finally win something that you’ve been thinking about for a while.”

Kushnirsky’s time was good for the Nassau record in the 100 breaststroke. He broke his own record that he set in the Nassau championships on Feb. 8 (54.17). It was the fourth time that he broke his own Nassau record.

“It was never good enough, he always wanted to do better,” coach Adam Sheflin said. “He would say, ‘I could’ve had a better start. I could’ve had a better turn. I could’ve done this better.’ Even if it was his best time, he’d say, ‘I could’ve done better.’ ”

This time, though, Kushnirsky felt he truly raced his best.

“I don’t think I could’ve done anything better in that race,” Kushnirsky said. “Especially looking back at it, I thought I did all the little things, like my start and my turns, pretty well.”

Kushnirsky was also part of Hewlett’s 200 medley relay that finished second among public schools in 1:34.08, another Nassau record. He was joined by Ethan Nus, Ethan Silver and Jeremy Ginzburg.

The Dartmouth commit is unsure of his major, but knows he wants to attend law school after his undergraduate studies. He scored 1,480 on the SAT. While he’s a star student and swimmer, he’s also the team jokester. He says joking around with his teammates helps relieve the pressure that comes with big meets.

“He’s a funny kid, but there’s always a level of seriousness when he’s in the pool,” Sheflin said. “At the meets, he would be joking around, having a good time. When it was time to swim, he became focused and goal-oriented. When he gets focused and in the zone, his goal is to compete and win. But otherwise, he was just having a great time with the other kids.”

At the state championship, the Hewlett team wore button-down shirts with the faces of each team member, including Sheflin, on them. The shirts were made by Sheflin’s daughter, Logan.

Said Kushnirsky: “I would’ve liked a few more pictures of (Sheflin) on there.”