Fennig earns trip to state

With each breath, Neal Fennig could see Sam Walburn coming.
As he surged through the final 25 yards, his lead was dwindling with each stroke. Approaching the wall, he reached out, hoping to hold on for the victory.
It was just enough.
When the Jay County High School senior turned and looked at the scoreboard, he gave a slight fist pump in celebration. He had fought off Walburn by the slimmest of margins — one hundredth of a second — to win the 200-yard freestyle at Saturday’s sectional meet hosted by JCHS and earn himself a trip to the state finals.
“I’m really excited,” said Fennig. “It’s kind of a dream to swim there. I’ve just wanted to swim in that pool.
“I’m tired. It hurt really bad. It was totally worth it though.”
Jay County finished seventh out of the 10 teams at the meet with 93 points, and South Adams was fourth with 155.
Muncie Central ran away with the title with 335 points, 103 more than runner-up Bellmont.
The champion from each swimming event Saturday will advance to the state finals. The top four divers move on to regional action Tuesday.
JCHS coach Barry Weaver said he and Fennig thought the best chance at the trip to the state finals would probably be in the 100 freestyle, but Fennig proved to be strong in the longer event.
After sitting in second place through the first 50 yards, Fennig put together a strong second 50 to grab the lead at the midway point. He continued to hold the advantage with just one lap to go, but had John Dowdle of Muncie Central and Bluffton’s Walburn both making a run at the lead.
“I knew going into the third 50 I was about half a body length ahead of everybody,” said Fennig. “And then when we came home on the last lap I was breathing to my left and I could see (Walburn) was right with me. I just threw my arm in to the wall.”
Fennig hacked more than three seconds off of his preliminary time, finishing in 1 minute, 49.36 seconds to beat out Walburn’s 1:49.37. Dowdle was four tenths of a second behind Fennig in third place.
The JCHS senior will compete at the IHSAA Boys Swimming and Diving State Finals Friday at 6 p.m.
“It’s really great to see a kid that goes through the fire and all the trials … and has a great work ethic,” said Weaver of Fennig, who finished second and third in his individual events at the 2010 sectional meet. “Even last year with a broken vertebrae in his back he never complained. …
“He continued to work hard, and it’s great to see the lights turn on when he turns and sees that he held (Walburn) off and got a chance to go to Indianapolis.”
Fennig was third midway through his other individual event — the 100 freestyle — Saturday before surging in the second half. He finished about a second behind Bellmont’s Jay Watters for second place in 49.94.
Senior Caleb Wurster turned in the top effort Saturday for South Adams, finishing second to Muncie Central’s Dan Proctor (1:00.97) in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.01. He was also sixth in the 200 freestyle at 1:56.52.
Mitchell Kaverman was fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.72, and Joel Schmidt finished sixth in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:05.07.
The only Patriot other than Fennig to swim in an individual championship race was senior Alex Sutton, who posted a time of 5:37.69 for sixth in the 500 freestyle. He was also 10th in the 200 freestyle in 2:01.92.
And Lucas Holcomb added a time of 1:06.14 for ninth place in the 100 backstroke.
Jay County’s best relay result came in the 500 freestyle event with Josh Lykins, Travis Steed, Fennig and Sutton placing fourth in 3:45.59. Zach James, Richard Osterholt, Fennig and Sutton were sixth in the 200 freestyle relay, and Willie Skiver, Lykins, Osterholt and Holcomb finished ninth in 1:58.09 in the 200 medley relay.
“I think we only had two, maybe three, that were not lifetime bests,” said Weaver. “Alex dropped three seconds in his 200 free. … He was on pace in the 500, and then it just caught up with him.
“(Holcomb) swam in the (freestyle) relay on Thursday and we ended up taking him out and letting him just concentrate on those two backstroke events for today and see if that would get his excitement up a little bit. I think it did. He dropped some time, and that’s what we like to see.”
Also competing in consolation events Saturday for the Starfires were: Jacob Werst (seventh – 200 IM, seventh – 100 fly); Cory Sank (eighth – 500 free); Lance Hummer (eighth – diving); Cole Farlow (ninth – 50 free, ninth – 100 free)), Johnny Everidge (ninth – 100 fly, 12th – 200 IM); Josh Dynes (10th – 500 free, 11th – 200 free); Schmidt (11th – 200 IM); Dom Richert (11th – 50 free); Josh Armenta (11th – diving); Shad Swygart (12th – 100 back).[[In-content Ad]]