Record-setting swims

By RAY COONEY
The Commercial Review
INDIANAPOLIS — Since the Norwell Invitational in early November, the Patriots have been breaking records at a furious pace all season. The state finals were no different.
Jay County High School’s girls swimmers broke five school records during the IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals at the IU Natatorium on Friday night — the last of which guaranteed Anne Vormohr a state medal. The freshman became the first athlete in team history to advance through the state preliminaries, earning berths in the 100-yard backstroke state championship race and the 100 freestyle consolation final.
“The girls did an outstanding job,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik.  “I’m extremely proud … I’ve said it all year long, I can’t speak highly enough about these girls. They work hard. They’re getting what they deserve.”
South Adams sophomore Cady Farlow added to the outstanding evening for the area swimmers as she broke her own school record in the 100 breaststroke. She posted a 12th-place finish in the preliminaries and will swim in the consolation finals today.
“Oh my gosh, it was awesome,” said SAHS coach Janelle Gresla. “We told her she had to go out and swim like the medley relay, and that’s what she did. I thought she looked strong.
“It’s always sweet when someone makes the Sweet 16. That just makes the state meet all the much better.”
Vormohr earned her state medal by turning in the fastest race of her life in the 100 backstroke. She surpassed the school, pool and sectional record time of 56.59 she set a week earlier, and eclipsed the 56.49 mark she posted at last year’s Indiana Age Group State Finals that earned her a trip to the USA Winter Nationals.
She finished in 56.29 seconds, which was good for second place in her heat behind Carmel’s Lacey Locke and seventh overall. Claire Adams of Carmel is the No. 1 seed at 54.02.
“Her goal is to come back in a 55,” said Slavik of what he hopes for Vormohr in the championship race. “I think she most certainly has the capability to do that.”
While Vormohr was expected to have a strong chance to return to swim Saturday in the backstroke — she was seeded fifth — her top-16 swim in the 100 freestyle was a surprise.
She entered that event as the No. 23 and competed from the eighth lane. But she reached her goal of breaking the 53-second mark to earn her spot in the consolation finals.
“That wasn’t even on my mind,” said Vormohr, who broke her own school record as she finished in 52.76 to earn the No. 15 seed. “I wasn’t even thinking about getting into the top 16. … I just wanted to go in and get a 52, and then it just turned out well.”
Farlow, who finished 25th in the state in the 100 breaststroke last season, came to the state finals hoping to earn one more day of swimming. She did just that.
She blew away her own school record of 1 minute, 7.07 seconds, she had set six days later at the Jay County sectional, taking the No. 12 spot in 1:06.58.
“It felt so good,” said Farlow of cracking the top 16. “That was my goal last year and I didn’t make it … I’m really excited.”
Sophie Bader matched her cousin, Vormohr, by breaking records in both of her individual events. And both came in convincing fashion.
Just minutes after getting out of the pool from the 200 medley relay, she dived right back in to swim the 200 freestyle and zipped through the water more than three seconds faster than she had at the sectional meet. She broke her own school record of 1:58.47 with a time of 1:55.31 and climbed all the way from the No. 27 seed to a 19th-place finish.
Bader was just as strong as she competed in the opening heat of the 500 freestyle. She grabbed the lead at the start and was in front for the first 400 yards on the way to finishing 25th in 5:14.47 after entering the meet as the No. 28 seed.
She was nearly seven seconds faster than her previous school-record time of 5:21.
“My first 50 split (in the medley relay) got me really excited because I dropped another second on that, so I had a good attitude going straight into my 200 free,” said Bader. “My 200 free felt awesome. I felt good through all of it, had a good strong kick. …
 “I felt really good (in the 500),” she added of the event in which she lowered the JCHS record, previously held by her cousin Cori Vormohr at 5:38.55, by more than 24 seconds over the course of the season. “I was extremely happy that I could come in and take off all that time. … I’m just super excited.”
The Patriots kicked off the record-breaking evening in the 20 medley relay with Vormohr turning in a blistering breaststroke leg to start the race. Bader, Caitlin Mark and Katy Smeltzer followed and brought home a 20th-place time of 1:51.82 for the group that was seeded 21st.
They were just over a second behind Munster (1:50.76) for the No. 16 seed.
“That’s pretty exciting,” said Smeltzer of the team breaking the school record of 1:51.9 it had set at the sectional meet. “It was just a fun experience to come down here and be able to swim.”
The only swim in which Jay County did not break a school record was the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay. But their time was still the second-best in school history.
Ashley Mark, Smeltzer, Bader and Vormohr placed 25th 3:43.24, a result surpassed in Patriot history only by the time they posted to win the sectional title.
“It was really exciting,” said Ashley Mark, a freshman. “There are so many fast swimmers. It’s a cool experience to be here.”
Ashley’s sister, Caitlin, was the only member of the group who had been to the state finals before, having competed for the Patriots in the 200 freestyle relay in 2011. It didn’t take her long to start dreaming about a third trip to the natatorium.
“I’ve already been thinking about next year,” said Caitlin Mark. “I think we’re going to be even better next year.
“I thought we did really well (tonight). We just had fun.”
For Vormohr, that next swim at the state finals comes Saturday when she will become the first Patriot to ever medal in a swimming event. That feat accomplished, she’s now focused on climbing as far as she can up the medal stand.
“I just want to move up really bad,” Vormohr said. “I want to be in the top three.”

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