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Saturday marks the final PCAC meet for PHU's Josh Curnutte, who has fallen just short in his past title bids.
By JOHN SCHWARB, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 25, 2002
CLEARWATER -- The blue-tinted, silver-rimmed Oakleys are a good giveaway: laid-back guy here. No need to tread lightly.
Josh Curnutte does not take the sunglasses into the pool. Nor does the easygoing attitude continue once the swimming begins. It's all business in the water.
But time is running out.
For the past three years, the Palm Harbor U. senior has made a name for himself in Pinellas County, winning a district title, advancing past the preliminaries every year at the state meet, earning Times second-team all-county honors each season.
It is a name, though, not a legacy.
Curnutte does not own a Pinellas County Athletic Conference individual title. He has never lined up against the best of the other 15 public schools and won.
Saturday is his last chance.
"I know. I've got to do that," Curnutte said. "It didn't really bother me last year. Then a couple of people brought it up. I realized I've got to win something.
"I've got to win conference this year."
In previous years, Curnutte has faced some of the county's finest and come up just short.
As a sophomore, he was third in the 50-yard freestyle behind two outstanding sprinters, East Lake's Matt Bowen and Seminole's Ryan Singletary.
He also took second in the 100 butterfly behind Northeast's Brad Snyder.
Last year, he finished second in the 100 free behind Northeast's Jordan Raynovich (a state champ in 2000 in the 200 individual medley) and third in the 200 free behind Snyder and Pinellas Park's Konrad Ciolko. "Those guys bring out the best races in me. But every year, I seem to draw someone else (great)," Curnutte said. "There's always someone else who's faster. Every year I just happen to get one of them."
It's a string of luck that could drive a head case over the edge, but Curnutte is far from the type to sit on a pool deck and obsess over races.
He has been, arguably, the Hurricanes' best swimmer since his freshman year and certainly, at times, the biggest troublemaker.
"He knew how to push my buttons," PHU coach Lisa Bitting said. "I can think of skim boarding in the storm drains, getting caught in the girls locker room during a rain delay at a swim meet. ...
"But as angry as he could make me, then he'd step up on the block and kick butt and make me happy."
Last week, the PHU boys defeated Seminole for the first time in a dual meet, and Curnutte could not resist a few crazy leaps off the diving boards in celebration.
But before that, he had taken care of business, winning the 100 and 200 free (he will swim both at the PCAC meet.) and swimming a leg on the winning 200 free relay. "He really rallied the guys and helped that process, not just with his own swimming, but kind of motivating and encouraging everybody else to do the same," Bitting said.
"He's being a good leader of the boys team."
Yet as much as swimming can be a team sport, it is based on individual performances. Curnutte accomplished one goal last year with a district title in the 100 free. But in the county meet, there is another left. "I'd like to actually leave a mark here," Curnutte said. "I've been working hard for four years. This year I'd like to leave mine."