Archive: Sports

Last Saturday Lansing's varsity boys swim team ranked number 1 in Section IV Class C Finals at Watkins Glen with 460 points, nearly 100 points more than the next highest team in the class.  This was one week after the team earned first place in the IAC Championships in Elmira with 377 points, 199 points more than Dryden, which scored second.  That was the culmination of a shut-out season, the sixth year in a row that the Lansing Boys Swim Team has gone undefeated, totalling over 60 dual meets in a row.

Lansing Coach Brian Vaughan attributes the team's success to hard work.  "Overall one of their best strengths is their work ethic," he says.  "The fact that these guys are in the pool six days a week for three hours a day, they end up doing really well.  Guys from other teams don't work as hard, don't swim as many yards.  Their coaches don't expect as much from them, and because of that they don't do quite as well."

That work ethic paid off Saturday.  Clement Towner, Dave Bandler, Jeremy Craig and Casey Hagin came in first in the first event, the 200 Yard Medley Relay.  Ari Darlow took second place in the 200 Yard Freestyle.  In the 200 Yard IM Max Mackenzie placed fourth, Ronan Corgel fifth, and Luke Schafer sixth.  Casey Hagin placed first in the 50 Yard Freestyle, followed closely by Dave Bandler four seconds later.  Cristian Zaloj placed eight in 1 mtr Diving.


Ari Darlow placed first in the Boys 100 Yard Butterfly, and Casey Hagin was first again in the 100 Yard Freestyle.  In the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay Casey Hagin, Aaron Eddy, Ari Darlow and Dave Bandler finished first for Lansing.  Clement Towner won another first in the 100 Yard Backstroke.  Dave Bandler took fourth place in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, and then in the final event Lansing's 400 Yard Freestyle Relay Team of Ari Darlow, Aaron Eddy, Josh Tull and Clement Towner took first place.

Clement Towner finished first in the 500 Yard Freestyle with a time of 5:00.76, which qualified him for the State championships this year.

Vaughn says this year's success comes from a good mixture of old and new swimmers.  "It's a mixture of things," Vaughan says.  "We did have a lot of success this year, mostly because we have a lot of seniors.  This team has seven seniors.  We have a good solid core of swimmers.  We had Casey Hagen and Clement Towner, who have been club swimmers.  Their abilities are really strong, because they have been swimming year 'round."


He adds that continually bringing swimmers up through the ranks prepares the team for future success.  "We have a good solid core of guys like Ben Veaner, Michael Coles, Max Mackenzie," he notes.  "They've been brought along with teams that have done well.  Now they're getting to the point where they're being relied upon to get up and do well, which is really nice.  We also have a couple of younger guys, Kyle VanderPoel and Ronan Corgel, who are seventh and eight graders who swam club for a long time."

Vaughan says that the league was more competitive in the past, and that Lansing has been able to keep its competitive edge because other teams haven't kept up the rigorous program that Lansing has.  "When I swam here it was a pretty level playing field," he says.  "We had a guy that was going 22 in the 50 freestyle, but so did Watkins Glen, and Waverly had a couple of guys that were really fast."


Lansing has had swimmers qualify for the State championships every year since Hans Roser first made States two years ago when he competed in the 100 yard breast stroke.  In 2006-2007 Jake Sandgren in the 200 IM and back stroke, Roser in the 200 IM and the 100 breast stroke, Sterling Gell in the 100 freestyle, and Aaron Mychack in the 100 butterfly.  Roser set the Section IV record in the breast stroke.  All four were named All-American swimmers.  Lansing's 200 freestyle relay also qualified.

In 2007-08 year two individuals and two relay teams qualified.  Sandgren qualified in the individual medley, and was named All-American in the backstroke.  Dan Ravis qualified in the butterfly, and finished first among all Class C schools.  Lansing's medley relay placed sixth overall out of C schools, and the freestyle relay team placed tenth or eleventh overall.

Vaughan was elevated to head coach last year when Reed Dewey decided to give more attention to the club team he coaches.  He mentored Vaughan in swimming and coaching, acting as assistant coach both years.  Vaughan credits his predecessors Bob Terry and Dewey for taking Lansing's program to the top, each building on the other's work.

"I have tried to do the same kind of things that Bob and Reed have done in the past to keep the tradition alive," Vaughan says.


Vaughan swam on the team until he graduated from Lansing in 2004.  He is currently studying math education at SUNY Cortland and hopes to teach math after he graduates.  He also plans to continue coaching.  "I really like this team, and I hope that wherever I end up I would like to coach a swimming program," he says.  "If I end up somewhere else I'd like to turn it into what we have here."

Meanwhile he is enjoying helping Lansing swimmers continue their winning streak in Section IV.  "To come back every day and see the same things happen -- guys working hard, working to achieve their goals, and reaching them..." he says.  "My favorite thing is to look at their goals at the beginning of the season, plan what they have to do to achieve them, and help them achieve them by the end of the year.  That's a great rewarding experience for me."

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