Three Valley swimmers competed at the Niagara District LSC Championships at the Webster Aquatics Center near Rochester on March 18-21.

Hailey Moorehead, Frank Chen and Altan Frantz, representing the Waverly Area Aquatics Club (WAAC), qualified for the meet by achieving gold qualifying times for the Niagara Region of USA Swimming. Fifty-four teams from across upstate New York and parts of New England participated in the competition held over four days. The local swimmers were coached by Jim Moss, who accompanied them for the competition.

Moorehead, a tenth grade student at Waverly High School, qualified in the 100 yard breaststroke with a seed time of 1:15.22. In the preliminaries held on Saturday, Moorehead swam a 1:15.38 in the girls age 15 and over event.

Chen, an eighth grade student at the Harlan Rowe Junior High School in Athens, qualified for the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard backstroke, 200 yard backstroke and 100 yard freestyle events.

In the 50 yard freestyle, Chen competed with a seed time of 24.85.

In the 100 yard backstroke, Chen had a seed time of 1:01.31 and swam a 1:00.95 in the preliminary race held on Saturday. In the finals, Chen swam a 1:00.80 and earned a seventh place overall for boys ages 13-14.

In the 200 yard backstroke, Chen qualified with a seed time of 2:14.27. In the preliminary race held on Sunday, he swam a 2:14.24 and qualified for the finals held Sunday night. In the finals, Chen swam a 2:14.72 for an overall ninth place finish for boys in the 13-14 age group.

In the 100 yard freestyle, Chen qualified with a seed time of 53.98 and swam a 53.48 in the preliminaries. He swam a 54.07 for the final on Sunday for a tenth place finish overall in his age group.

Frantz, an eighth grade student at Epiphany in Sayre, competed in the 200 yard individual medley (IM), 100 yard butterfly and 100 yard breaststroke.

In the 200 IM, Frantz qualified with a seed time of 2:14.10 and swam a 2:13.51 in the preliminaries on Friday. In the finals held Friday night, Frantz swam a 2:11.95 and earned a fourth place overall in boys age 13-14. In the 100 butterfly, Frantz qualified for the event with a seed time of 59.19 and swam a 1:00.60 in the preliminaries on Saturday. In the finals that night, Frantz swam a 59.56 for fifth place overall in the boys 13-14.

In his 100 yard breaststroke, Frantz had a seed time of 1:14.38 and swam a 1:10.25 in the preliminary race on Saturday. In the finals, Frantz swam a 1:10.85 for 12th place overall in the boys 13-14.

There were 603 athletes who participated in a total of 3,101 entries, which includes relays and individual events.

The Webster Aquatics Center is a 10-lane, 25-yard course located at the Webster-Schroeder High School. The competition was hosted by the Fairport Area Swim Team.

The Waverly Area Aquatic Club (WAAC) is a non-profit organization whose objective is to develop the young swimmers in our area such that they experience a healthy, lifelong sport, can achieve both individual and team athletic goals, and where many will hopefully feed into our area high school athletics swim programs. Swimmers ages 4 years to adult, and at all swimming levels, are welcome to join and become part of the USA Swimming organization found nationwide. The spring/summer WAAC program will begin on Monday, April 26, and continue through mid-July, with practices at the Athens High School pool.

For more information, please contact Toni Risboskin at (607) 565-2075 or at trisboskin@aol.com.