Going into the Meet of Champions, where the state's top high school swimmers face off, CHS junior Henry Scott was hoping to finish in the top three in his best event, the 100 butterfly, but wanted to be realistic about his chances.

"I didn't want to get my hopes too high because there are some fast guys there," said Scott, 17, who lives in Maplewood.

He wound up tieing for second in the 100-yard fly—making All-American time at 50.01 seconds—and coming in sixth in the 200 freestyle at the March 7-8 meet in Sewell, N.J., featuring New Jersey's best 30 swimmers in each event. He easily beat the All-American cutoff of 50.9 seconds and blazed past his former best time of 52.2 seconds. There are 130 All-American slots for the event.

Scott has been swimming for the past 10 years and seemingly has talent for it in his blood, since his older siblings, Charlotte and Ned, also swam for CHS and now swim for William Smith and Bates colleges respectively. During the swim season, he trains for 2 and a half hours every weekday with his club team, the Cranford-based Jersey Gators, and on Saturdays and Sundays starting at 6:30 a.m. He also joins the CHS team—of which he's one of four captains—for early-morning practices once or twice a week, but not every day.

"If I was in the water four hours a day, my skin would get so dry I'd turn into a frosted flake," he joked.

He'll compete in the Junior Olympics at Rutgers this weekend and then take a few weeks off. Over the summer, he's a lifeguard at the Maplewood pool and a member of the Maplewood Makos town team, which is low-pressure and mostly just for fun.

Looking toward next season, Scott hopes to lower his time by a hundredth of a second and break the 50-second barrier in the 100 fly. He points out that the other top finishers in his event at the Meet of Champions were seniors, so he has another year to improve.

When reflecting on his impressive time, Scott mentions that he was wearing the Blue 70 Wetsuit but doesn't let it undermine the accomplishment.

"It's really just a suit," he said. "I'm the one swimming in it."