Vormohr, Patriots seek success

In three and a half decades, no Patriot girls swimmer had ever won a state medal until Anne Vormohr earned her spot on the podium last season.
The sophomore will try to repeat the feat this weekend, and this time she’s hoping to have some teammates to keep her company in the pool Saturday.
While Vormohr, who finished fifth in the state in the 100-yard backstroke last season, seeks to climb even higher this year, she also leads a Jay County High School medley relay team that is positioned to compete for a spot in the consolation finals. It’ll be a busy Friday night for the Patriots, who will compete in eight of the 12 events beginning at 6 p.m. at the IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals at IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.
“First off I’d like to see everybody improve,” said SAHS coach Matt Slavik, whose team broke sectional records in five events Saturday. “I think we’re geared up to go faster than what we went at sectionals. … These girls have done an outstanding job in training.”
South Adams junior Cady Farlow will also compete Friday night as she holds the top seed among the local state qualifiers. She is in the No. 4 spot in the 100-yard breaststroke after setting sectional, pool and school records at the sectional meet in 1 minute, 3.99 seconds.
“I’d like to see her be a low 1:03 … I think that’s very doable,” said SAHS coach Janelle Gresla. “I’d like to see her get in those top eight places so she can get a medal. To me, that would be great.”
The top 16 swimmers and relay teams in each event Friday advance to Saturday’s consolation and championship finals, with the top eight earning a state medal.
Vormohr became Jay County’s first athlete to earn a state medal in a girls swimming event last season. After placing seventh in the 100 backstroke preliminaries, she moved up two places in the finals with a school-record time of 56.12 seconds.
“That was very cool,” said Vormohr, who also finished 13th in the 100 freestyle. “I felt very honored to be the first one to do it.
“It was awesome. It was a great feeling.”
Continued from page 10
She’s set a goal of making the top three this season as she enters the meet as the No. 7 seed with her sectional time of 56.2. While the state favorites — Breanna Robinson (54.65) of Wawasee and Claire Adams (54.92) of Carmel — are seeded more than a second ahead of the rest of the field, the next five swimmers are separated by less than two tenths of a second.
Vormohr is also seeded 13th for the 100-yard freestyle at 52.3.
Farlow is headed to the state finals for the third straight season and is hoping to continue to progress up the standings. She qualified in two events during her freshman season, but did not advance to Saturday’s competition. A year ago, she earned a spot in the consolation finals in the 100 breaststroke and finished 11th in the state in 1:06.99.
She was exactly three seconds faster than that time at Saturday’s sectional meet as she obliterated the record book.
The junior is hoping to drop her time into the low 1:03 range, but, regardless of time, she’s targeting the top eight.
“Honestly, I just want to medal,” said Farlow. “That’s my goal. That’s my mentality right now. I can’t wait. I’m so excited.”
While Vormohr and Farlow are favored to make the podium, the Jay County 200 medley relay team will be in a battle for a spot in the consolation finals.
Sophie Bader, Katy Smeltzer, Jamie Valentine and Vormohr posted a sectional time of 1:50.03, which has them seeded 17th for the state finals just 0.32 seconds behind 16th-seeded Lawrence North. They’re hoping to drop at least a second in hopes of advancing to swim on Saturday.
“I definitely think we can still drop time and move up,” said Smeltzer, who was part of the JCHS medley relay team that finished 20th last season. “That would be so cool to come back and swim on Saturday.”
Bader is also looking to advance to the consolation finals in the 100 butterfly, in which she is seeded 24th at 57.75. That time would have been good for 13th place last season.
The sophomore will also compete in the 200 freestyle, in which she is seeded 27th. She was 19th in the 200 freestyle and 25th in the 500 freestyle last season.
Smeltzer took over the 500 freestyle spot in the sectional this season, won her race and is seeded 31st. She holds the No. 33 seed in the 50 freestyle as she competes in individual events at the state finals for the first time.
Sydney Mathias, Vormohr, Smeltzer and Bader will also compete in the 400 freestyle, in which they are seeded 26th. The Patriots finished 25th in the event a year ago.[[In-content Ad]]