{"id":121436,"date":"2026-02-03T16:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/121436\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T16:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:32:09","slug":"liam-blackwell-signs-letter-of-intent-to-swim-with-manhattan-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/121436\/","title":{"rendered":"Liam Blackwell signs letter of intent to swim with Manhattan University"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thursday\u2019s celebration at Pine Bush High School was for Liam Blackwell, a varsity swimmer who signed his national letter of intent to swim for Manhattan University in the fall.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PBHS-Liam-signing-web.jpg\" alt=\"A high school senior sits at a table and signs a piece of paper. In the background is a blue and gold banner that says Pine Bush.\" width=\"800\" height=\"567\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39331\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\nHis family, friends and teammates came out in force to support him after a five year career on the varsity team, showing leadership and sportsmanship the entire time.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PBHS-Liam-w-family-web.jpg\" alt=\"A high school senior sits at a table with a Jaspers banner on it. Behind him are a man and two women.\" width=\"546\" height=\"800\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39333\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\nLiam has qualified for the Section 9 championships each year that he has been on the team. He has also qualified for the NYS swimming and diving championships every year since he was a freshman.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cIn 2024, Liam was an integral part of Pine Bush\u2019s Section 9 championship title,\u201d said Coach Kevin Blackwell. \u201cLiam has been a captain for the team for the past two seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nLiam\u2019s best events are sprint freestyle and backstroke, according to coach. Liam is the backstroke leg of both the Division 1 and Division 2 County Championships meet medley relay records.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PBHS-Liam-w-dad-and-coach-web.jpg\" alt=\"A high school senior sits at a table that has a green and white banner with a large M and the word Jaspers. Beside him are two men, each with their hand on his back.\" width=\"682\" height=\"800\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39332\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLiam, this moment reflects your years of hard work, dedication and support from family, coaches, teachers and teammates,\u201d said Jen Evans, the district director of physical education, health and athletics. \u201cAs you continue your athletic career, carry with you the pride of Pine Bush and know we are all here cheering you on and supporting you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nWhile Liam has been part of the team for five years, he\u2019s been at the pool for many more. His dad, Chris, coached for more than 10 years with Coach Blackwell, who is Liam\u2019s uncle. Chris also competed for Pine Bush diving, holding the Section 9 diving record for 23 years. What an amazing family tradition!<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PBHS-Liam-w-teammates-web.jpg\" alt=\"A high school senior sits at a table with a Jaspers banner on it. Behind him are 12 other high school boys.\" width=\"800\" height=\"543\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39334\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\nCongratulations to Liam! We wish you all the best at Manhattan University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday\u2019s celebration at Pine Bush High School was for Liam Blackwell, a varsity swimmer who signed his national&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-121436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}