July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
State berths are JC's goal
JCHS girls swimming
State berths are JC's goal
The Patriots opened the 2010-11 season hoping to earn their first sectional title.
That goal slipped away as Muncie Central rolled to the title. But Jay County High School sent more girls swimmers to the state meet than it had for nearly a decade.
That’s an accomplishment the Patriots would like to repeat.
“I’m excited for the season,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik, whose team opens Saturday at the Norwell Invitational. “Looking at who we have, I think we’re sitting in as good a situation, if not better, as we were last year. …
“Our goals this season are to finish top two at sectional, get a relay to state and just try to get more into sectional finals than what we’ve had.”
Jay County’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Mary Hudson, Eme Miller, Charlotte Becot and Caitlin Mark won the 2011 sectional title. It was the first time the Patriots sent a relay to Indianapolis since 2002 when Abby Arnold, Janelle Johnston, Rachel McKee and Megan Franks went in the same event.
Three of those four swimmers — minus Becot, a French foreign exchange student — return for JCHS this year with Hudson leading the way.
In addition to her trip to the state finals in the relay, Hudson also earned her second straight berth in the 100 breaststroke last season. She went on to finish 27th in the state in 2010 and 26 last season.
The senior, who holds the school record in the breaststroke, returns this season as the team’s leader in the breaststroke, butterfly and sprint freestyle.
“Mary has been very consistent,” said Slavik. “Mary brings an energy to the team. …
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“She’s been to state in the breaststroke two years in a row and last year in a relay as well. We look forward to going a third time in the breaststroke and the second time in a row in a relay.”
Miller, also a senior, is the only other Patriot coming back after finishing in the top six in the sectional in a swimming event last season.
In addition to her effort in the 200 freestyle relay, Miller was also the sectional runner-up in the 200 freestyle behind then-senior Brooke Cossairt of Norwell. She added a fourth-place finish in the 500 freestyle, and projects to again be the team’s top distance swimmer.
She’ll also be focused on swimming at the state finals for the first time after missing the 2011 meet because of an illness.
“Eme was probably the most stoked of any kid coming in this year,” said Slavik, noting that both Hudson and Miller are hoping to continue their careers in college. “Coming off of her state-qualifying relay last year and then getting sick, it did nothing but fire her up more. … She’s working like crazy already this year.”
Mark, a sophomore, narrowly missed top-six efforts in her first sectional meet a year ago. She was seventh in both of her events — the 200 individual medley and the 100 freestyle.
Senior Laura Bowen, who is a co-captain along with Hudson and Miller, placed ninth in the individual medley at the 2011 sectional and 12th in the backstroke. And sophomore Alyson Lucas, who was 10th in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events, will give the Patriots a solid one-two punch in the distance events.
Rachel Vogler, a sophomore, also hopes to advance beyond the sectional this season. She leads a group of divers along with junior Sammi Compton after falling just 11 points short of a regional berth last year with a fifth-place sectional finish.
“Our goal is to get two girls out of sectional,” said Slavik. “Last year we went down to regional and showed them what it’s going to take. I think they all have an idea of what they need to do. Essentially they all need to get more height on their dives and they all need to get more (degree of difficulty).”
The Patriots also add freshman Katy Smeltzer, who will open the season in the butterfly, backstroke and sprints. She was a member of the Jay County Winter Swim Team’s 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams that finished eight and ninth respectively in the Age Group State Championships in March.
Slavik said he also expects to get significant contributions from three swimmers — seniors Jocelyn Mann and Marissa Murrell, and sophomore Abigail Johnson — came up just short of qualifying for the sectional finals last season.
And with 30 athletes overall on his roster, he expects his squad will have a chance to again chase the school record for wins it set last season with a 12-3-1 mark.
“We’ve got a solid core of really good swimmers,” said Slavik. “We’ve got a great group of girls. They’re fun to be around.
“They’ve bought into it. … We’re going to work together to get it done.”
The Patriots opened the 2010-11 season hoping to earn their first sectional title.
That goal slipped away as Muncie Central rolled to the title. But Jay County High School sent more girls swimmers to the state meet than it had for nearly a decade.
That’s an accomplishment the Patriots would like to repeat.
“I’m excited for the season,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik, whose team opens Saturday at the Norwell Invitational. “Looking at who we have, I think we’re sitting in as good a situation, if not better, as we were last year. …
“Our goals this season are to finish top two at sectional, get a relay to state and just try to get more into sectional finals than what we’ve had.”
Jay County’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Mary Hudson, Eme Miller, Charlotte Becot and Caitlin Mark won the 2011 sectional title. It was the first time the Patriots sent a relay to Indianapolis since 2002 when Abby Arnold, Janelle Johnston, Rachel McKee and Megan Franks went in the same event.
Three of those four swimmers — minus Becot, a French foreign exchange student — return for JCHS this year with Hudson leading the way.
In addition to her trip to the state finals in the relay, Hudson also earned her second straight berth in the 100 breaststroke last season. She went on to finish 27th in the state in 2010 and 26 last season.
The senior, who holds the school record in the breaststroke, returns this season as the team’s leader in the breaststroke, butterfly and sprint freestyle.
“Mary has been very consistent,” said Slavik. “Mary brings an energy to the team. …
“She’s been to state in the breaststroke two years in a row and last year in a relay as well. We look forward to going a third time in the breaststroke and the second time in a row in a relay.”
Miller, also a senior, is the only other Patriot coming back after finishing in the top six in the sectional in a swimming event last season.
In addition to her effort in the 200 freestyle relay, Miller was also the sectional runner-up in the 200 freestyle behind then-senior Brooke Cossairt of Norwell. She added a fourth-place finish in the 500 freestyle, and projects to again be the team’s top distance swimmer.
She’ll also be focused on swimming at the state finals for the first time after missing the 2011 meet because of an illness.
“Eme was probably the most stoked of any kid coming in this year,” said Slavik, noting that both Hudson and Miller are hoping to continue their careers in college. “Coming off of her state-qualifying relay last year and then getting sick, it did nothing but fire her up more. … She’s working like crazy already this year.”
Mark, a sophomore, narrowly missed top-six efforts in her first sectional meet a year ago. She was seventh in both of her events — the 200 individual medley and the 100 freestyle.
Senior Laura Bowen, who is a co-captain along with Hudson and Miller, placed ninth in the individual medley at the 2011 sectional and 12th in the backstroke. And sophomore Alyson Lucas, who was 10th in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events, will give the Patriots a solid one-two punch in the distance events.
Rachel Vogler, a sophomore, also hopes to advance beyond the sectional this season. She leads a group of divers along with junior Sammi Compton after falling just 11 points short of a regional berth last year with a fifth-place sectional finish.
“Our goal is to get two girls out of sectional,” said Slavik. “Last year we went down to regional and showed them what it’s going to take. I think they all have an idea of what they need to do. Essentially they all need to get more height on their dives and they all need to get more (degree of difficulty).”
The Patriots also add freshman Katy Smeltzer, who will open the season in the butterfly, backstroke and sprints. She was a member of the Jay County Winter Swim Team’s 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams that finished eight and ninth respectively in the Age Group State Championships in March.
Slavik said he also expects to get significant contributions from three swimmers — seniors Jocelyn Mann and Marissa Murrell, and sophomore Abigail Johnson — came up just short of qualifying for the sectional finals last season.
And with 30 athletes overall on his roster, he expects his squad will have a chance to again chase the school record for wins it set last season with a 12-3-1 mark.
“We’ve got a solid core of really good swimmers,” said Slavik. “We’ve got a great group of girls. They’re fun to be around.
“They’ve bought into it. … We’re going to work together to get it done.”
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