NYSPHSAA SWIMMING: WAVERLY HAS BIG DAY, QUALIFIES FOR STATE FINALS IN FOUR EVENTS (24 PHOTOS) (November 21, 2025)
BY BRIAN FEESValley Sports ReportWEBSTER — One by one the Waverly Wolverines swimmers competed on Friday, and one by one they qualified for state finals.
The Wolverines will be headed to four A finals on Saturday as the 200 medley relay, the 200 free relay and Mira Kittle in the 50 free and 100 backstroke are all in position to bring home state medals at the NYSPHSAA Championships at the Webster Aquatic Center.
“We swam really well today,” Audrey Kellogg said. “We put in a lot of work, so it’s really good to see what came out of that.”
The day started off with the 200 medley relay qualifying for the finals, finishing fifth in the prelims in 1:48.16 with a team of Olivia Cheresnowsky, Natalie Steck, Megan Atanasoff and Mira Kittle.
“It definitely put us in the right mindset and let us know what we were capable of for the rest of the day,” Cheresnowsky said. “So, I knew we were able to do good for the rest of the events.”
“It was a lot of fun and I feel like we swam well,” Steck said. “It was really nice, and I”m glad we all made it (to the final).”
Kittle was happy to see the relay make the final.
“It’s really exciting getting it (finals) for both individuals too, but especially our medley relay, because we were seeded high last year,” Kittle said. “So, it’s really nice to see our team come together.”
Kittle knows it was big to start things out strong.
“I feel like getting your first race done and out of the way and having a good race, it really helps to slow everything down for the rest of the day,” Kittle said.
A year ago Kittle was disqualified in the 50 free prelims after posting the fastest time in the field. On Friday she posted a PR, dropping her seed time by .28 as she finished third in the prelims in 23.35.
“I think I just went into the meet as a whole today, I just wanted to have a good time,” Kittle said. “It’s my senior year, whatever happens, I just wanted to have a fun day. Last year I was just happy to even be here, I’m happy to be here this year. If you false start, or DQ, you just have to learn to get past it, move on, you have plenty of other races.”
Now, it’s onto the final for Kittle, where she’d love to lower her time again.
“It’s really great (to be in the final),” Kittle said. “I’m really happy with my times. I hope to get even better times, but if I don’t, I still leave with a PR here.”
The 50 free is such a fast race anything can happen, but Kittle is just happy to swim it on Saturday.
“It can go any way, but I’m not super worried about it,” she said. “I am just happy to compete tomorrow.”
Welles is in the B final in the 50 free after swimming a 24.31, dropping .28 seconds to finish 15th in the prelims and Atanasoff is in the C final after a 24.73 in the prelims that put her 23rd.
“It was kind of surprise to drop .2,” Welles said.
For Atanasoff it helped having the 50 free before the 200 and 400 free relays later in the day.
“The Individual event definitely helped me get used to the pool,” Atanasoff said.
Welles is also into the B final in the 100 free after swimming a 53.95, that put her 16th in the prelims.
Kittle also made the final in the 100 backstroke, finishing seventh in the prelims in 57.31.
“Very excited, I’ve never been in an A final for that before, so it’s really great,” Kittle said.
Kittle is in three A finals on Saturday. As long as she finishes the three races she’ll earn state medals, which will give her 10 in her career.
“It’s really awesome,” she said. “I hadn’t really thought about it like that, but it’s really great to think about.”
What the Waverly senior has thought about is how much the program has grown in recent years.
“I know my freshman year it was super exciting to be I think the fourth girl in school history to qualify for the meet and then coming into my sophomore year adding three more girls onto that and last year adding I think three again,” Kittle said. “The amount of girls that qualified this year, it’s really great and I’m super proud of our team.”
This year the Wolverines had six total girls, swimming in six different events.
The 200 free relay of Cheresnowsky, Kellogg, Atanasoff and Welles qualified for the final with a 1:39.23 in the prelims. They are seventh after the prelims.
For Kittle it’s special watching many of her younger teammates make a state final.
“When they qualified (for states) earlier without me, I was super happy for them to have the opportunity themselves,” Kittle said. “It’s really great to see that our coaching has had an effect on these younger girls who also want to come and be good and make the state meet and make finals and they are doing it all at 14, 13 years old. I’m really excited to see what they do when I leave.”
Making the finals is special for the Waverly girls.
“This is definitely unforgettable,” Cheresnowsky said. “We are really proud of ourselves. We train all year round and just want to represent the W.”
“I’m really happy with our time and I’m excited for tomorrow,” Atanasoff said. o lose. It’s just going to be a great day tomorrow.
“It’s great to know we are going to medal, we can just leave it all in the pool.”
For the Waverly swimmers it was special to have such a big group to swim with.
“I’m glad we all had each other,” Kellogg said.
Making finals in two relays just takes so many nerves away for tomorrow as the swimmers know they will bring home medals as long as they finish the races.
“It definitely settled the nerves for tomorrow,” Cheresnowsky said. “We are just going to pour everything in, we’ve got nothing t
The 400 free relay of Kellogg, Atanasoff, Kittle and Welles finished 23rd in the prelims in 3:50.80 and will swi in the C final.
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
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