Patriot, Starfire teams seeing early success

We’ve been watching winter sports for more than a month.
That seems hard to believe, with some teams having just started their seasons within the last week and others — the Jay County High School gymnastics team — still in preseason mode. But because of the way the schedule is constructed, some squads have been competing since early November.
That’s enough time for some evaluation, and for many teams it’s been so far, so good. Let’s take a look at a few of those groups that are off to strong starts.

South Adams girls
At a small school like South Adams, often if one team during a season thrives, others struggle. It’s not because of lack of effort, but rather lack of numbers. There are only so many athletes to go around.
But that hasn’t been the case for the Starfires, whose girls swim and basketball teams have torn through the first part of their schedules.
Led by junior twins Brette and Ashton Klopp, the SAHS girls tankers won their first six meets of the season before suffering a 186-123 loss Monday to defending sectional champion Jay County. The start included a second-place finish at the season-opening Norwell Invitational and an impressive 104-76 win over an always-strong Celina squad.
South Adams’ cagers have built off of last year’s 14-win season with victories in each of its first 10 games. The Starfires, with senior Cindy In’t Groen averaging 20.4 points and 9.5 rebounds, have won seven games by double figures and came up big in tight contests against Eastbrook (34-31), Leo (52-50) and Bluffton (42-39).
Like the swim squad, it’s possible the SAHS girls basketball team could be undefeated when it visits Jay County on Saturday in a battle of top teams in the Allen County Athletic Conference.

Patriot wrestling
It’s hard to judge a wrestling team by an out-of-state tournament, but the Jay County grapplers have proven to be a strong squad since finishing fourth in the season-opening Franklin County (Ohio) Invitational.
The Patriot coaches expected a good challenge in their season opener against a Centerville squad ranked eighth in Class 1A by IndianaMat.com. Instead, JCHS rolled off eight straight wins in a 60-12 blowout.
It was more of the same Friday and Saturday.
Hosting the first ACAC dual championships, Jay County was dominant. It won its only close match of the weekend 42-31 over Adams Central — IndianaMat.com’s No. 4 team in Class 1A — and clobbered its remaining conference rivals by an average of 46 points.
The Patriots will have a chance to prove themselves further in the coming weeks as they go on the road to take on 2015 sectional champion Pendleton Heights and compete in the Twin Lakes Invitational before hosting the East Central Indiana Classic on Dec. 22.

Jay girls hoops
When the JCHS boys basketball coaching job came open during the summer, Chris Krieg was reluctant to apply because he felt his girls team might be the best he had ever coached. Now we see why.
The Patriots (9-2), with Kirk Comer at the helm, opened the season with eight consecutive victories before falling to a New Castle team that finished 13th in the most recent Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association Class 4A poll. A loss in the next game to sectional rival Muncie Central came with starters Abby Wendel and Taylor Homan out with injuries.
Jay County has had plenty of players contribute to the hot start, with Wendel scoring in double figures in eight of the nine games she has played. Fellow senior Lyla Muhlenkamp has stretched the defense with her long-distance shooting, and freshman Shelby Caldwell has proved her ability to carry the scoring load with Wendel sidelined.
The Patriots know the long-term challenge is formidable — tournament rival Homestead is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in Class 4A — but they’re determined to rack up as many wins as possible and then see if they can give the Spartans a sectional scare.