Four records fall

When Sophie Bader hit the wall to finish the 200-yard individual medley, no one else in the pool had even made the turn at the other end of the pool. It was just the start to a record-breaking night for the Patriots.
In one of the most memorable dual meets in team history, the Jay County High School swimmers broke four records on Tuesday.
Bader improved her own JCHS record in the individual medley, and her cousin Anne Vormohr set a new mark in the 100 freestyle. And then the Patriots highlighted the meet with back-to-back record swims from James Keen in the 500 freestyle and the team of Katy Smeltzer, Caitlin Mark, Bader and Vormohr in the 200 freestyle relay.
“They are the epitome of what you look for in swimmers,” said Jay County girls coach Matt Slavik of his record breakers, who led the team to a 168-144 victory. “They’ve got great attitudes. They work hard. They bring out the best in everybody on the team. … Them going out and breaking records is just icing on the cake.”
The Patriot boys got two individual wins apiece from Josh Lykins and Keen, but lost 184-116.
The relay record came just five days after the same group of girls broke the JCHS mark in the 400 freestyle relay.
Mark led off the race for the Patriots, who are undefeated at 8-0, with a 27.64-second opening leg, and the times just got faster with each new swimmer. Smeltzer opened up the team’s lead on Delta as she finished her 50 yards in 26.1. Bader added a time of 25.23, and Vormohr broke the 25-second mark to finish the record swim in 1 minute, 43.72 seconds.
They took down one of the oldest records remaining on the board, beating the time of 1:44.04 second by Libby Weaver, Janelle Johnston, Abby Arnold and Taylor Fullenkamp in 2001.
“It meant a lot for me because I know last year at sectional we were only (four hundredths) off from breaking it,” said Mark. “We really, really wanted it.”
“I think it’s pretty awesome that after last week we broke the (400 freestyle relay) record we could come back and break the 200 free relay,” added Smeltzer, who was also on the relay team that came up just short last season.
The relay record came immediately after Keen proved himself to be the best long-distance swimmer in school history.
With junior teammate Josh Lykins pacing up and down the side of the pool and cheering him on, Keen demolished the record of 5:08.36 set by Ted Morrison in the mid-1980s. He was nearly 30 seconds faster than the field and just missed breaking the 5-minute mark as he finished in 5:00.07.
“It felt really good,” said Keen, who threw his head back with a smile and pumped his fist in the air when he saw his record time flash on the scoreboard. “I’ve been wanting to get it for a while. …
“Usually when I’m swimming … I don’t really think about how fast I’m swimming. I just try to go faster than I usually do …
“I felt good. I really did. I felt good.”
JCHS boys coach Barry Weaver said the key for Keen, who also won the 50 freestyle in 23.1, is that he stays consistent throughout the longer races.
“His strokes are all about turnover,” said Weaver. “He just turns things over so fast. … He just has that ability to just keep going at that pace. …
“That’s the way he’s doing it in practice. Everything he does is just (full speed) the whole time.”
Bader broke the JCHS 200 individual medley record as she finished nearly 20 seconds ahead of runner-up Hannah George of Delta in 2:14.59. That time surpassed the record of 2:15.34 she set at the season-opening Norwell Invitational.
She also won the 100 backstroke in 1:04.2.
Vormohr became the first Patriot in a decade to break the 55-second mark in the 100 freestyle, winning the event in 54.39. She surpassed the record of 54.76 set by Abby Arnold in 2002.
Her other individual victory came in the 100 breaststroke at 1:15.93.
Ashley Mark, Smeltzer, Bader and Vormohr also teamed to win the 200 medley relay in 1:58.24.
“We’re definitely working hard,” said Bader. “I’m really excited about our times. I think they’re going on the right track, and I can’t wait to see what the times will get to the rest of the season as we progress.”
“(We) aren’t doing our best times now,” added Vormohr. “That just kind of gets us excited for sectionals when we know we’re going to be tapered and we know we’re going to be at our best point. I know we can go faster.”
Lykins turned in solid wins in both of his events for the JCHS boys (0-5), taking the 200 individual medley by more than five seconds in 2:13.9. He was also first by nearly two seconds in the 100 butterfly at 57.56.
Shelby Wendel was second in the 100 breaststroke. Cody White was third in the 100 and 200 freestyle events, and Conner Daniels took third in the 100 backstroke.
But Delta took the victory thanks to winning all three relays and taking second place in all but one individual event.
“It was a pretty good night, regardless of what the score says,” said Weaver. “We won a lot of events. We just can’t seem to get those seconds, thirds and fourths. But overall, I thought the kids swam really well tonight.”
In addition to her record swim, Caitlin Mark was second in the 200 freestyle and third in the 100 freestyle. Julie Valentine added a runner-up finish behind Vormohr in the 100 breaststroke.
The Patriot girls also got third-place efforts from Alyson Lucas (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle), Ashley Mark (50 freestyle), Darcy Parker (100 butterfly) and Taylor Campbell (100 breaststroke). Rylee Clemmons, Laurann Schoenlein and Ashley Mark each added fourth-place efforts.
Slavik said he was also impressed with Sara Bollenbacher, who turned in a career-best time by 17 seconds in the 500 freestyle.
“Sara Bollenbacher had the biggest time drop of the night,” said Slavik. “We have a lot of girls working extremely hard. …
“We have a second level of girls that is starting to show itself. … We had a ton of girls step up.”[[In-content Ad]]