Keen places second

A record-breaking performance still left James Keen short of the state finals.
Keen, a freshman, broke the Jay County High School record in the 100-yard backstroke at Saturday’s sectional tournament for a second-place finish. He was also the runner-up in the 200 individual medley.
The top swimmer in each event earns a state berth.
Still, Keen’s effort led the host Patriot boys swim team as it finished third with 300 points. Bellmont ran away from the field for its first sectional title since 1980, scoring 399 points
 Delta tallied 304 points to edge JCHS for second place, and Muncie Central was a close fourth in the 10-team field with 293. Cory Sank had a fourth-place finish for South Adams, which was eighth with 134 points.
Keen set himself up for a chance to advance to go to the state meet when he earned a couple of No. 1 seeds in Thursday’s preliminaries. Two days later, a pair of veteran swimmers surpassed him.
He came closest to a trip to the state finals in the backstroke, where he posted a time of 55.79 seconds to finish second behind Bluffton senior Samuel Walburn (52.91). His time was still enough to break Kyle Weaver’s school record of 56.14 that had stood for a decade.
In the individual medley, Bellmont senior Michael Miller overtook Keen to win in 2 minutes, 2.87 seconds.
Keen was the runner-up in 2:06.16.
In the 400-yard freestyle, Keen teamed with Alex Sutton, Josh Lykins and Wiley Young for a second-place finish about 12 seconds behind Bellmont in 3:33.71.
South Adams finished with four top-eight swims on the day, with  Sank leading the way by placing fourth in the 500 freestyle in 5:29.62.
Sutton, a senior, followed Keen for Jay County, by turning in a third-place finish in the 500 freestyle in 5:26.49. He was also fifth in the 200 freestyle in 1:59.26.
Josh Lykins and Matt Dann picked up fourth-place finishes in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke with times of 57.57 and 1:08.87 respectively. Lykins was also sixth in the 50 freestyle in 23.83, and Dann posted a time of 2:24.19 for eighth in the 200 individual medley.
Kaleb Baldwin placed sixth in the 100 backstroke in 1:04.26, and Wiley Young was eighth in the 100 freestyle in 54.62.
Keen, Dann and Young teamed with Lucas Holcomb to finish in 1:47.49 for fourth in the 200 medley relay.
Turning in seventh-place efforts for South Adams were Jacob Werst in the 100 butterfly in 59.38, Shad Swygart in the 100 backstroke in 1:05.14 and Mitchell Kaverman in the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.39.
The Starfires finished eighth in all three relays.
Also scoring for the Patriots were Shelby Wendel (ninth – 100 breaststroke) Remington Arnold (ninth – diving), Dylan Friddle (10th – 50 freestyle, 12th – 100 freestyle), Zach James (11th – 100 breaststroke, 15th – 50 freestyle), Tayler Garringer (11th – diving), Holcomb (11th – 100 butterfly, 16th – 100 backstroke), Young (12th – 200 individual medley) Caleb Hummel (13th – 200 freestyle, 13th – 500 freestyle), Cody White (15th – 200 freestyle, 15th – 500 freestyle). Friddle, James, Lykins and Holcomb were sixth in the 200 freestyle relay.
Consolation finalists for the Starfires were Werst (10th – 200 individual medley), Chris Inniger (12th – 500 freestyle), Kaverman (13th – 200 individual medley), Sank (14th – 100 backstroke) and Josh Dynes (16th – 500 freestyle).[[In-content Ad]]