By CHRIS BROOKS, sports editor, wellsvillesports.com, photo galleries of swim action and senior night
BATH — The time has come for the Sea Lions of Wellsville to defend their throne.
Although their Sectional title defense won’t come for another two weeks, the Sea Lions still have the mighty waters of the Livingston County Athletic Association to traverse, as they looked to swim their way back to the top of the conference in Bath this past weekend, on Saturday.
Across all the personal, and even season bests, that were scattered through the water, it was a 560-point performance filled with dominance from the Livonia Lady Bulldogs, as they took home this year’s top honors over second-place Letchworth/Perry and third place Wellsville.
The Sea Lions scored seven finishes in the top three, with three of them coming across as first place finishes — two of them belonged to the LCAA’s top Swimmer of the Year in Morgan Mattison, who managed to collect winning times in both the 50 freestyle (25.71) and the 100 butterfly (1:11.25).
Both times, a season best for the Sea Lions star swimmer.
Kaylee Oswald was the other Sea Lion to record a top finish, as she posted a 359.80 score off the Diving board two nights before, to claim first place. Oswald would also collect a third place finish in the 100 backstroke. Wellsville also scored two second place finishes in the relay department, garnering them in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays, respectively.
“This was a great meet for the girls, despite the team results not being what we’re used to. They all dropped time and had good swims,” Sea Lions coach Steve Hand said. “Kaylee looked good off the board going into Sectionals, Morgan swam faster than she has all year, Makenna Cooke chased down a Sectional cut in the 100 butterfly, Jasmine got the 200 IM and a few other girls were able to inch closer. We’ve got one more shot in Livonia on Tuesday, and we only do times for this meet, and the girls swim faster when there isn’t any added pressure of scoring those points.”
In addition to Mattison receiving Senior Swimmer of the Year, the Sea Lions saw three more swimmers receive All-Conference selections at meet’s end, with Oswald, Reegan Perkins and Megan Vanetten all earning them.
For a complete docket of results from the LCAA Championship meet, you can click the link here!
The four-time defending Section V champion Sea Lions will now gear up for a tri-team exhibition up north in Livonia along with Palmyra-Macedon on Tuesday before making one last push towards the Class C Championship meet, which is slated to begin on November 2 at the Webster Aquatic Center.
Senior Night success!
WELLSVILLE — Senior Night is always one of those tough nights to endure.
Even more so when your Seniors have also provided major contributions from within a program that has climbed the Section V mountaintop for the last four years running.
For Morgan Mattison, Kaylee Oswald, Jasmine Outman and Megan Vanetten, they have swam not only their very last home meet of the year, but the very last regular season meet of their esteemed and glorified Wellsville Sea Lion careers in front a jam-packed crowd, Thursday night.
There was only one way for the meet to go — up. With visiting Dansville in town, the Sea Lions would not go anywhere else but up, as they advanced forward and claimed seven total first place finishes, including a complete sweep of all five events in the opening half to set the tone on the Lady Mustangs immediately, as the team sent their four senior captains out in style with a regular season-concluding 78-51 win.
“This was a good meet for the seniors. The younger girls spent Wednesday night decorating the pool for the Pink Pumpkin Project and Senior Night. This meet felt like the emotions ran high, and it’s a meet where I don’t think it would matter if we won or lost. It’s about the seniors and all their hard-work over the years getting to swim in their pool one last time,” Sea Lions coach Steve Hand said.
Wellsville totaled seven first place finishes to lead the charge against Dansville, with five different individuals all working to claim victories in their respective events. The winners include Reegan Perkins in the 200 freestyle (2:23.0), Megan Vanetten in the 200 individual medley (2:48.9), Lily Miller in the 50 freestyle (30.5), Morgan Mattison off the Diving board (160.20) and Makenna Cooke in the 100 butterfly (1:32.0).
The Sea Lions would also collect a winning 200 medley relay event victory from all four of their seniors to start off the night, as the team of Vanetten, Oswald, Mattison and Outman all scored a 2:17.8 first place finish for the team.
Hand spoke about his team’s performances, noting that “Jasmine got a Sectional cut in the backstroke, Megan swam events she normally does not swim in and did a great job with both. Kaylee tried a new dive and was very successful. There are eight individual swimming events and one diving event. It is a hard accomplishment to get all eight events, but Kaylee has done that all three years in a row. Tonight, Morgan joined that select few and got the Diving portion done. Learning six new dives in less than a week with help from Kaylee. It was really awesome to watch the Seniors and the younger girls work together.”
Scoring wins for Dansville were Haidyn Scollon (100 freestyle), Nevaeh Levasseur (100 backstroke) and Samara Wolf-Mailky (100 breaststroke), pairing them with a victorious 200 freestyle relay win.
For an in-depth look at the results, they are posted below.
The Sea Lions regular season campaign is now over, as they wrap up their 2024 campaign with a record of 5-1-1.
The team will now begin their wait for Sectionals, with a trip to the Livingston County League Championship meet in Bath upon the horizon next weekend, beginning with Diving next Thursday in a 5 p.m. start, before the big dance next Saturday morning.
Team Scores: Wellsville 78, Dansville 51.
200 Medley – 1. Wellsville (Outman, Mattison, Oswald, Vanetten) 2:17.8, 2. Dansville, 3. Wellsville.
200 Free – 1. Reegan Perkins (WLSV) 2:23.0, 2. Abigail Kendall (DAN), 3. Nevaeh Levasseur (DAN).
200 IMR – 1. Megan Vanetten (WLSV) 2:48.9, 2. Jasmine Outman (WLSV), 3. Ella Green (WLSV).
50 Free – 1. Lily Miller (WLSV) 30.5, 2. Ashlyn Schledorn (DAN), 3. Pala Alsworth (WLSV).
Diving – 1. Morgan Mattison (WLSV) 160.20, 2. Kaylee Oswald (WLSV).
100 Fly – 1. Makenna Cooke (WLSV) 1:32.0.
100 Free – 1. Haidyn Scollon (DAN) 1:04.3, 2. Megan Vanetten (WLSV), 3. Lily Miller (WLSV).
500 Free – 1. Kaylee Oswald (WLSV) 6:16.1, 2. Morgan Mattison (WLSV), 3. Abigail Kendall (DAN).
200 Relay – 1. Dansville (Schledorn, Scollon, Kendall, Starr) 2:04.9.
100 Back – 1. Nevaeh Levasseur (DAN) 1:25.4, 2. Selena White-Fairbrother (DAN).
100 Breaststroke – 1. Samara Wolf-Mailky (DAN) 1:28.6.
400 Free – Did Not Score.
