Swimmers look to bounce back

A drop to sixth place in the sectional was not what the Patriots were looking for last season. Now, they’re hoping to get back among the tournament contenders.
With Neal Fennig as the only swimmer back who competed in a championship race at the 2010 meet, they will have some work to do.
“We’re hoping for improvement over last year,” said Barry Weaver of his Jay County High School boys swim team, which opens its season Tuesday against Bluffton “Number one, we’re hoping the weather cooperates a little bit more so we can get all of our meets in. Number two, I think we’ll be a little bit deeper than last year … especially in some areas.”
Fennig returns to lead the squad, which scored nearly 80 points fewer in last season’s sectional meet as compared to their runner-up finish in 2009.
The senior turned in a pair of top-three efforts a year ago, finishing as the runner-up behind Bluffton’s Hunter Copeland in 51.17 seconds. He narrowly missed breaking the one-minute mark in the 100 backstroke, placing third in the event behind a pair of Muncie Central athletes with a time of 1:00.04.
“He got real frustrated last year with the backstroke,” said Weaver. “He loves to swim the breaststroke, but he got frustrated with the fact that he couldn’t break that minute. … That kind of ate at him over the course of the spring and summer.”
Fennig will lead the Patriots in the backstroke again this year, but his best opportunity at a sectional championship and a state berth may come elsewhere. Weaver said he plans on using Fennig in the freestyle sprints, and possibly the 200 freestyle as well.
The coach said he believes his leader could have a shot at the state cut time — 48.17 — which is the average 16th-place time in the state meet over the last three years and would earn him an automatic trip to the state finals.
“He looks like our best sprinter right now,” said Weaver. “He went a 51 last year at the end of the year, so he’s really looking to improve on that. He’s gotten bigger and stronger.
“He does a nice job of paying attention to details.”
The only other Patriot who finished in the top six in the sectional for the team last season was Aaron Hudson, who the team lost to graduation. He also turned in a second-place finish and a third-place finish.
Caleb Hummel, a junior, placed 11th in the 500 freestyle at the 2010 sectional, and will return to lead the long distance vents for Jay County this year. The rest of the lineup includes Richard Osterholt in the butterfly, Alex Sutton in the breaststroke and Wylie Young in the individual medley.
Weaver also said he expects key contributions from Lucas Holcomb, Zach James, Willie Skiver and Travis Steed.
“I would say Wylie is probably our most naturally gifted swimming,” said Weaver. “Things tend to come easy to him. … If he gets fired up, I think he will really be able to do some damage.
“We need a bunch of the juniors to step up. (Seniors) Travis Steed and Richard (Osterholt) are both coming of age. … And then Alex Sutton is another one that is going to step up.”
Weaver said he hopes his squad will find its way back into the top three in the sectional and win at least half its meets. The squad went 4-7 last season after finishing 13-3 in 2009.
He also noted that he’ll shift his lineup a lot in the first half of the season before settling in as they prepare for the tournament.
“We’ll do a lot of experimenting,” said Weaver. “It’s definitely going to be a lot of searching until Christmas time, and then after Christmas we’ll load it up in one direction and see what we can do.
“What I would like to see every meet is about 75 percent personal bests. I think that’ll show that we’re continuing to grow.
 “Last year we slipped down quite a ways. … I don’t know if there’s a reason why we couldn’t be in the top three or four in the sectional.”[[In-content Ad]]