PEOPLE WILL SAY “WOW”: At conclusion of illustrious career at Wellsville, Kaylee Oswald wins 3rd straight NYS title in Shot Put; will attend D-I Western Michigan this fall to continue throwing career

By John Anderson/Wellsville Sun

MIDDLETOWN — A strange noise echoed through the school hallways in Wellsville, a loud thud with a metallic edge to it. Members of the custodial staff never looked up as they cleaned the combination of dirt, mud and sand and salt from snow off the floors on this early December day.

The echo continued down toward the music rooms where Jeff Joslyn is giving music lessons after school. He continues on as if the sound was a metronome.

Everyone was used to it.

The sound was coming from the small, middle school gym. Two sets of bleachers on one side. Too small for a big athletic contest, but just the right size for Kaylee Oswald to throw an indoor-specific discus and a shot put.

Oswald peers out of the gym and sees two of her teammates, both underclassmen, and instructs them to get warmed up and starts going over how to throw. She sounded like a veteran coach. She is not. She's a senior at Wellsville training to win an unprecedented third State championship in the shot put.

Maybe this was on purpose, but Oswald could have trained upstairs in the high school gym where close to 100 Section V championship banners hang and two with her name on them for winning states. Instead, she was in the gym with bare walls, no shadows of past wins, just a place you have to prove yourself.

Over the weekend, she solidified herself as a champion. At Middletown High School, Oswald threw the shot put 40-4.50 to indeed win a third straight New York State Championship.

She also qualified for states in discus and of all the athletes at the state meet from Section V, she was awarded the overall Section V Sportsmanship Award winner at the state championships as well.

Dean Giopulos, who has coached the boys' track team at Wellsville for years, but started as a girls' assistant 41 years ago, looked around and said, "I would say she's had a very, very good day today."

With Kaylee winning and competing in two events, Xavier Scott winning states in the hurdles and J.J. Howard taking third in the high jump and competing in the long jump, Giopulos said, "They set marks people will look at and say, 'Wow.' Our record board compared to other schools has always been good, but now it's amazing."

But that's not all. Oswald has several Section V swimming championships including winning the 100 backstroke and her finish in the 50 free. Giopulos does not remember another athlete decorated with this many individual championships.

THE DECISION

This fall, Oswald will be attending Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo on a track and field scholarship. Western Michigan University won the Kaylee Sweepstakes after official visits to University of Connecticut, Kent State, Elon University and University at Buffalo.

"Their coach reached out, I liked the coach and I liked the program," Kaylee said. "They have a good scientific-based program that I think would benefit me in the future.

It will be a different approach to throwing, I'll have a coach in the weight room, it will make me a better athlete and a better thrower, so I am super optimistic about all of it," she added.

PROUD AS A COACH

Larry Peacock, the new Wellsville Girls' Track and Field coach, is impressed with his star athlete.  

"To win States, it had to be her best throws for the day and that's what she did. It got her the win," said Peacock. "She's glue, that's what she is to us and this program. She leads by example. Everyone follows, her presence makes her better and that's going to be a loss," Peacock said. "She is a consummate teacher, always helping the other kids throwing. You see it on the bus rides, you see it on the track, when she shows up, everything is good. When she shows up, she's a calming influence. She doesn't flinch. It's made the younger kids get better."

What others didn't see was the rest of the state training to beat her.

Giopulos said, "I don't know if she would ever admit this, but for the last two years she's been hunted. Everyone aims for her, everyone wants to knock her off and she doesn't show the pressure. She goes out there and seems to get better. All the sectional titles she has won — and she is the only multiple winner of state championships in the school — I can not imagine anyone winning three in a row again. You never say never, but the chances of someone doing that again are unimaginable."

Peacock said the State has also recognized her as a champion.

"Look what she has earned — the 2025 State Champion board, and most of all, she got the sportsmanship award. Here you are, you practice like a champion and you perform like a champion and act like a champion. Period. That's what she does, that's what she did," Peacock said. "Her action of teamwork, practice, and results ... she builds on it. I've seen a lot of athletes, and I don't think we'll see an athlete coming out of Wellsville like this in a long time. She's won Sectionals in swimming, track, State titles ... if there's something she wants to do, she will do it. She has the work ethic. She will definitely flourish in college."

STAYING MOTIVATED

What keeps Kaylee motivated? It was simple. Another title.

"To do it again, I strived to do better than the past," she said. "To get better as a senior, I had to put a lot of time in the weight room and I'm doing more technical throwing. Last year, I took the power I had and turned it into a throw. Now, I am taking everything and putting it into a throw. So this year when I popped one, it went further."

YOUTH SERVED

Oswald didn't wake up in 10th grade and become a state champion. She worked at other sports to become an athlete who has power and incredible athletic ability and agility. She did seven years of gymnastics with G2 Gymnastics & Fitness in Shinglehouse, Pa., and was a swimmer.

When the COVID pandemic hit, she kept working.

"In eight grade during Covid, my sister, Stephanie Oswald, was also a thrower and we would practice on the road in front of our house," Oswald said.

Her sister also had a throwing coach, George Kinnicutt, who had a pretty good track record with Wellsville sectional champions and coached his daughter, Emma, to a State title as well.

"She kept going and worked with George, then I went and worked with George and it kind of snowballed," Oswald said

After a long day or school and a long practice, Oswald would put in another throwing session with Kinnicutt to continue to improve and cement her state championship resume.

"I realized three of our state champions were throwers (Sue Livergood also won states), so I put faith in George," Kaylee said. "I had the confidence that he was an amazing coach and would get me to my fullest potential. Working with him and having him by my side would give me the best chance to win states."

Suddenly, shot put was an event she fell in love with.

"I think I liked the fresh start from gymnastics. This was all new. It was technical like gymnastics, but not in your face, it was at my pace. And, I could see quick improvements, so it was easy to fall in love with," Oswald said. "My freshman year, I was competing in the discus. By my sophomore year, I had won states in shot put and made the state qualifier in discus."

And then a great junior year at states.

To do them both was not a concern.

"Most of the time shot put is first. If discus is first, I'll put 100 percent effort, but make sure I have energy to throw shot and I do not get discouraged if I do not do well in discus," she said of her strategy during her career.

THE FIRST TITLE

She will never forget that first state title.

As a sophomore, she threw 37-10 to nip Maine-Endwell's Panayiota Anastos by a fraction of an inch, who threw 37-9.75.

"I don't think that it helped that I won by a quarter of an inch, I did not expect it," Oswald recalls. "It took three days to sink in that I won."

Followed by a lonely fire truck celebration ride.

"It was weird having all the attention, I felt there was too much attention on me," she said. "Usually it's on a sports team that wins, so it was weird having it focused just on me."

WORKING HARD AND FAMILY

Oswald said there is no secret.

"I practice every day. When it's nice out, I'm outside in Wellsville or Bolivar or at the circle that's at my house. And I am lifting four days a week on top of it. When the weather is bad, I'm in a school or the Alfred State College gym, in my house, outside my house," she said. "And I'm working with our younger throwers, Makenna Cooke and Sarah Mattison, coaching them up."

Her parents have enjoyed the success, and they have put the miles on the vehicle to see it.

"My parents (Jim and Katie Oswald) are always at every single meet, they have been very good to me," she said. "They take me to Nationals each season, they took me to Boston for indoor, Philadelphia for Nationals for outdoor. For States, we go from Staten Island to Middletown."

WHAT’S NEXT?

Her college throwing coach at WMU will be Kayleigh Conlon, and Oswald has already been instructed to hit certain marks.

"The ultimate goal is 50 feet in shot put and a lot of records personal-wise," she said.

To throw in the Olympics, you have to throw over 60 feet. Is that attainable? She's gained five feet each season.

"Yes, but I don't know how long that will last. I think it will last through this year," she said. "The only thing I am trying to gain from college is new coaching and getting better. I love the sport too much to turn it into a job because then it would discourage me."

And speaking of jobs, many student-athletes in the BOCES New Visions Medical Program have to drop a sport or sports altogether because of the demand of classes. Oswald made it part of her routine.

"In the New Visions Medical Program. I really liked studying this year and it was a very tough class," she said. "By the time I am done practicing and lifting, I study. But I've learned to love cooking and meal prep."

Giopulos said it's more than that.

"Her story is not just how she has developed as an athlete, she's also matured so much as a person," he said. "She is fun to be around and she has earned every bit of it."

New York State Class C Championship Girls ' Shot Put Results

1 Kaylee Oswald Wellsville - C [12] 40-4.50

2 Grace Walley Walton-C [10] 40-0.75

3 Hannah Roggie Beaver River-C [11] 39-5.00

4 Desiree Jean-Pierre Saranac-C [12] 38-8.00

5 Nora Tighe Pulaski-C [12] 38-5.25

6 Nyla Wilson-Epps Tapestry Charter-C [12] 37-1.00

7 Lauren Paske Chenango Forks-C [12] 36-8.25

8 Jernessa Donaldson Solvay-C [10] 36–03.75

9 Maggie Hawken Campbell-Savona-C [10] 35-2.00

10 Danae Morgan Hastings-C [11] 35-1.25

11 Mikayla Johnson Southwestern-C [11] 34-11.75

12 Nola Bohringer Cobleskill-Richmondville-C [11] 34-7.50

13 Kaitlyn Putman Madrid-Waddington-C [12] 34-7.25

14 Sadie Konjas Onteora-C [11] 31-11.75

15 Mehana Levy Port Jefferson-C [11] 30-2.00

16 Krysta Wheeler Monsignor Scanlan-C [11] 28-11.00

17 Olivia Garcia Oyster Bay-C [12] 28-8.00

18 Rebecca Pepin Riverdale Country Day-C [11] 26–07.50