Record opening win

OSSIAN — Before competing at the state meet during her senior season, Cori Vormohr talked about what it felt like to have her name plastered all over the Jay County High School record board.
She said it was great, but that she knew the records would be short-lived. Her sister and cousins would break them all.
Anne Vormohr and Sophie Bader wasted no time getting started on that task.
The freshman cousins each broke a JCHS record while winning two individual events and contributing to two relay victories Saturday to lead the Patriot girls swim team to the title at the season-opening Norwell Invitational.
Jay County scored 239 points to fight off runner-up Bishop Dwenger (234) and third-place Oak Hill (233.5) in the nine-team field.
“It’s a great start to what we hope will be a great season,” said JCHS senior Audrey Hall. “I think we have a really good team this year. … Everyone is really working hard.”
Cady Farlow picked up the lone win for a short-handed South Adams squad, which finished fifth with 136 points.
“I was really, really pleased,” said South Adams coach Janelle Gresla. “We came in here and swam nine girls, one senior in the group … and we had some really good swims. It gave us a really good feel for where the team is at.
“I’m pretty excited.”
Bader and Vormohr were both dominant in their individual events, with the former setting her first school record in the 200-yard individual medley.
Bader blew away the field in the event, winning in 2 minutes, 15.34 seconds. She was more than 10 seconds ahead of Bishop Dwenger’s Marissa McDonald and easily broke the previous school record of 2:17.74 held by Cori Vormohr.
“It’s definitely really exciting,” said Bader. “It got me really pumped for the rest of the season.
“I swam with a lot of these girls my entire life and they’ve been there pushing me the whole time and I’m very thankful for that.”
Anne Vormohr’s record swim came in her signature event, the 100-yard backstroke. She had a solid lead already when she emerged from her underwater start, and just continued to pull away for a win by nearly six seconds over McDonald in 59.52.
Vormohr became the first swimmer in JCHS history to break the 1-minute mark in the event, taking down Abby Arnold’s record of 1:02.38 by nearly three seconds.
“It was surprising, but it feels good,” said Vormohr, who will compete in the 100 backstroke at the USA Winter National Championships later this month in Austin, Texas. “The very first meet you’re always so excited to get in the water and set a standard for the season.”
The cousins were equally dominant in their other individual events, with Bader taking the 100 butterfly by nearly five seconds as she just missed breaking the 1-minute barrier with a time of 1:00.03. She was just 0.14 seconds away from the school record held by Cori Vormohr.
Anne Vormohr cruised to victory by more than eight seconds in the 200 freestyle in 2:03.91, less than a second away from her sister’s school record. Kara DeLong of South Adams (2:12.09) was the runner-up.
Bader and Vormohr also teamed with sophomore Katy Smeltzer and junior Caitlin Mark to take the meet-opening 200 medley relay by four seconds over Bishop Dwenger in 1:57.53. Bader, Vormohr, fellow freshman Ashley Mark and junior Rylee Clemmons posted a time of 1:49.27 to edge Bellmont (1:49.64) in the 200 freestyle relay.
“It’s the real deal when they’re coming out and breaking records in their first meet,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik of Vormohr and Bader. “We’re not fully conditioned yet. We’re not at meet strength yet.
“It just shows that they’ve got tremendous raw talent. … They’ve definitely got the skills and today proved it.
“The girls are probably further ahead than where I would expect us to be looking at some of the times,” he added. “The girls came out strong with a pretty solid time (in the medley relay), about four seconds faster than we went last year at this time. It was just an outstanding effort.
“Our relays looked solid. Just across the board we looked pretty good.”
Farlow blew the field away in picking up the only win for South Adams in the 100 breaststroke, one of the two events she competed in at the state finals during her freshman season. She finished more than nine seconds ahead of Oak Hill’s Hannah Brown in 1:08.48.
She was also the runner-up with a time of 25.56 in the 50 freestyle behind Bishop Dwenger’s Erica Evans (24.87).
In addition to her second-place finish in the 200 freestyle, DeLong was third behind Vormohr and McDonald in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.09.
The only other Starfire to place in the top five of an individual event was Sidney Sprunger, who was fifth in the 100 backstroke in 1:11.75. She also finished seventh at 1:12.12 in the 100 butterfly.
“Cady Farlow really led the team,” said Gresla. “Kara (DeLong) came along with some great swims. …
“Sidney Sprunger really swam hard. She really came out in the fly and did an excellent job, and in the 100 back too.”
Farlow and DeLong also joined Ellie Kaverman and Michaela Rupp for third in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:54.27.
Smeltzer missed giving Jay County a fifth individual win by less than a second, finishing as the runner-up behind Evans in the 100 freestyle in 56.17. She also posted a time of 25.91 for fourth place in the 50 freestyle.
Ashley Mark was fourth in the 100 breaststroke in her first career meet in 1:20.35. She added a time of 1:11.61 for sixth place in the 100 butterfly.
Alyson Lucas, Ashley Mark, Caitlin Mark and Smeltzer teamed to place third in the 400 freestyle relay in 4:08.47.
Also scoring points for JCHS with a top-12 finish were Lucas (seventh – 200 freestyle, seventh – 500 freestyle), Caitlin Mark (eighth – 100 freestyle, ninth - 200 individual medley) and Julie Valentine (eighth – 100 breaststroke) and Carli Ostrowski (10th – 100 butterfly).
“It was great to start the year like this,” said Slavik. “We’ve still got work to do, but (in the first meet) that’s the best that I could expect.
“They were focused like laser beams today, ready to swim and fired up.”
Adding top-12 swims for South Adams were Michaela Rupp (11th – 100 freestyle, 12th – 50 freestyle), Maddie Kloepper (11th – 100 butterfly), Korinna Schindler (12th – 500 freestyle) and Kaverman (12th – 100 freestyle).

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