Archive: Sports

Saturday November 7^th, 2015 Owego, NY – The Owego Free Academy was host to the Section 4 Class C Championships where the Lansing Girls Varsity Swim and Dive capped off its 3^rd perfect swimming season, dating back to the start of the 2013 season. The LadyCats would score a combined 479 points to take home the Sectional crown.  Team scores were as follows:

1. Lansing	479
2. Watkins Glen	429
3. Chenango Forks	299
4. Southern Cayuga Girls Varsity	233
5. Dryden	164
6. Odessa Montour Varsity Girls	145
7. Greene	106
8. Whitney Point Varsity	66
9. Unatego	16

 
Lansing swimmers of won 7 of the 12 events and fended off strong challenge from rival Watkins Glen who placed second ; giving Coaches Diane Hicks-Hughes and Shelly Matheny a 3^rd Sectional Championship in as many years.

Outstanding individual swimming performances include:

Senior Paige Kieper (Captain) earned 36 points with a 1^st Place win in the 100 Backstroke and 3^rd place in the 50 Free. She also participated on the winning 200 Medley and 400 Free Relays.

Junior Katie Weaver earned 40 points with wins in both of her Individual events, 50 Free & 100 Butterfly as well as swam on the 200 Free & 400 Free winning relays. Weaver also earned the 1^st ever Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet Award for Class C for her efforts on behalf of the LadyCats.

Junior Grace Ferris earned 37 points with a 1^st Place win 200 Individual Medley and 2^nd in the 100 Breaststroke. She also swam on the winning 200 Medley and 200 Free Relays.

Sophomore Jackie Brown earned 33 points with a 2^nd Place finish in the 500 Free and a 3^rd Place finish in the 100 Fly. 

Sophomore Marin Allen earned 32 points with a 2^nd Place finish in the 100 Back and a 4^th Place finish in the 100 Fly.  She also swam on the winning 200 Medley Relay.

Sophomore Caroline Dennis earned 30 points with a 3^rd Place finish in the 100 Free and 5^th Place in the 50 Free. She also swam on the winning 200 and 400 Free relays.


Sophomore Meghan Matheny scored 19 points with 2nd overall finish in Diving and a 15^th place in the 50 Free.

Freshman Libby Weaver earned 28 points with 5^th Place finishes in the 100 Free and 100 Back. She also swam on the winning 200 Medley and 400 Free Relays.

Freshman Laura Ferris earned 24 points with 7^th Place finishes in the 200 IM and 100 Fly.

8^th Grader Katie Bar earned 24 points with a 6^th Place finish in the 200 Free and 8^th Place finish in the 100 Free.

Scoring/Placing results for Lansing by event was as follows.

200 Medley Relay: 

Senior Captain Paige Kieper (Back), Junior Grace Ferris (Breast), Sophomore Marin Allen (Fly) and Freshman Libby Weaver (Free)began the morning with a 1^st Place time of 1:56.52, ahead of Peighton Cervoni, Katherine Meehan, Amanda Wilbur and Emma Allington of Watkins Glen who went a 1.58.49; earning 40 Points for Lansing.

200 Freestyle:

Lansing had 4 swimmers in this event who scored a combined 32 points. They were led by Senior Lizzy Drake in 3^rd, Katie Barr (8) in 6^th, Krista Taylor (JR) in 8^th and Lexi Ryan (JR) in 15^th.

200 Individual Medley:


Junior Grace Ferris earned The LadyCats’ 1^st individual championship on the day with a 1^st place time of 2:23.62. She was joined by her sister Freshman Laura Ferris in 7^th and Senior Captain Tori Swanson in 15^th. Together the swimmer put 34 points on the board for Lansing.

50 Freestyle:

As anticipated the 50 Freestyle was a very exciting and the closest race on the day. The top spots were separated by less than ½ a second; but it was Junior Katie Weaver who was able to take 1^st with a winning time of 25.05. She just out touched Claire Rejman of Southern Cayuga who took second with a 25.10 and fellow LadyCat Paige Kieper (SR, Capt.) who took 3^rd with a 25.42. 

Additional scorers for Lansing were Sophomores Caroline Dennis in 5^th Place and Megan Matheny in 15th. In total the swimmers added 52 Points for Lansing.

Diving:

Meghan Matheny scored 17 Points for Lansing with a personal best for 11 Dives of 420.80 and 2^nd place of Lansing. She also set a New Team Record with the score!


100 Butterfly:

Butterfly has been a very strong event for the LadyCats all year and the Sectional Championships was their crowning achievement. All 4 qualifiers competed in the championship final for this event and all performed well. 

Katie Weaver garnered her 2^nd Individual 1^st place finish on the day with a winning time of 1:01.38. She was joined on the championship podium by Sophomores Jackie Brown in 3^rd and Marin Allen in 4; as well as Freshman Laura Ferris in 7^th. A terrific showing by the Ladycats and an additional combined 63 points; the highest number of points for any single event! 

100 Freestyle:

46 Points were scored by the swimmers for the Ladycats in this event. Lansing Sophomore Caroline Dennis was the top finisher for Lansing with a 3^rd place time of 58.13. She was followed by Libby Weaver in 5^th, Katie Barr in 8^th and Krista Taylor in 12^th.

500 Freestyle:

Ladycat swimmers combined were able to add 22 more points to the score for Lansing in this event. Top swimmer for Lansing was Jackie Brown who placed 2^nd with a career best swim of 5:52.25. Also scoring were Juniors Lexi Ryan in 13^th and Michelle Romano in 16^th. Senior Lizzy Drake who also competed was unfortunately disqualified for a False Start.


200 Freestyle Relay:

The 200 Freestyle Relay was a great race for Lansing, and not only because they finished 1st. The team of Grace Ferris, Caroline Dennis, Lizzy Drake and Katie Weaver added 40 points to the LadyCat total with a winning time of 1:45.67; fighting off a talented Watkins Glen team of Emma Allington, Peighton Cervoni, Sara Gardner and Katherine Meehan who finished 2^nd with a time of 1:46.98.

However, more important than the win, was the example of perseverance in the face of adversity displayed by Senior Lizzy Drake. As previously noted Drake had False Started in the 500 Free just prior to this event. A tough blow to any swimmer and she was even asked by Lansing Coach Diane Hicks-Hughes if she would like to bow out of the relay, Drake told coach H2 no, she was going to swim for her team.  

Drake joined her relay teammates in the ready room, walked out to the music with her relay and swam a personal best 50 time in her leg of the relay.  It was an incredibly mature and gutsy, but not surprising to anyone who knows Lizzy Drake.

100 Backstroke:

The Ladycats put 57 more points on the board in this event led by Senior Captain Paige Kieper; who defended her 2014 championship in this event with her 1^st place winning time of 1:01.94.


As with the IAC Championships the previous week, the real race in the backstroke was for second; and again featured Marin Allen from Lansing, Julia Angotti of Southern Cayuga and Peighton Cervoni of Watkins Glen. As with IAC’s, Allen was able to take 2^nd place honors, only this time it was Cervoni who finished less than ½ a second later in 3^rd and Angotti who finished 4^th.


Also scoring for Lansing were Libby Weaver in 5^th and Senior Captain Tori Swanson in 11^th. 

100 Breaststroke:

Top swimmer for the Lansing was Junior Grace Ferris, who finished 2^nd with a season best time of 1:11.71 to Katherine Meehan of Watkins Glen who went a 1:10.74. 

Ferris was joined by Senior Amanda Van who won the Consolation Final for 9^th place.  The two swimmers combined for 26 points for the LadyCats.

400 Freestyle Relay:


Caroline Dennis, Libby Weaver, Paige Kieper and Katie Weaver put the icing on the championship cake with a 40 point 1^st place winning time of 3:50.76.  Their biggest challenger was the team of Claire Rejman, Catherine Reynolds, Julia Angotti and Lauryn Mattoon of Southern Cayuga went a 3:54.95.

Worth noting here, Rejman of SC split a 54.34 in her lead of leg of the 400, which was a NY State Meet qualifying time for the 100 Freestyle.  

On a more personal note, it has been a pleasure watching and reporting on these young women all season.  Through all the meets, swimming, laughter & tears they have shown tremendous character and determination.  I want to wish good luck to the seniors and congratulations to all the young women of Lansing’s 2015 Girls Varsity Swimming and Diving Team. You have demonstrated your skills, sportsmanship, comradery, and class! 

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