February 9, 2017 at 6:13 p.m.
Bader expects career-best time
JCHS?junior hoping tougher competition helps her improve
Bader expects career-best time
As Alex Bader surged into the final 10 yards Saturday, no one was close to her. Most of the field was around the far wall of the pool as she approached the finish.
Without even the slightest challenge, she obliterated her own school record by 0.64 seconds.
Now that Jay County High School junior hopes Friday night, with the best swimmers in the state pushing her, she’ll be able to take that improvement even further and perhaps all the way to the state podium.
Bader leads a group of nine local swimmers — four Patriots and five Starfires — as she enters Friday’s IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals preliminaries at Indiana Natatorium in Indianapolis as the No. 13 seed in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The fastest 16 swimmers from Friday’s races advance to Saturday’s finals, with the top eight guaranteed a state medal.
Bader, who was 11th in the event as a freshman and 21st last season, fully expects that she’ll need to be better than she was at the sectional meet to even have a chance to stay in the top 16.
“Even if I drop a little bit of time, I could still be ninth through 16th, and if I add less than two tenths, I won’t even get a chance to swim on Saturday,” she said. “So I have to go a best time on Friday night to even try to come close to getting into the top 16 to swim on Saturday.”
That’s because the breaststroke has gotten blistering fast in the last few years.
Bader’s sectional time of 1:05.2 is just 0.36 seconds behind that of eighth-seeded Olivia Trout of Concord. But it’s also only 0.33 seconds ahead of Laura Wright of Bishop Dwenger and Ali Terrell of Franklin Community, who shared the No. 16 seed. And seven more swimmers broke the 1:06 mark at their sectional meets as well.
The key to surviving Friday night in that packed field is technique. Bader has been focusing on improving her turns, finishing her kicks and breathing as fast as possible.
“I’m pretty nervous about it,” she said, “but I feel like I can go a best time, especially at state when everyone around me is about the same time as I am.”
Her coach, Matt Slavik, is confident that she can improve on her sectional time, saying that breaking the 1:04 mark is the goal. He believes being up against the best in the state will be key.
“Alex is competitor,” he said. “She is truly a gamer. And she has not been pushed yet.
“She was purely going out on her own gut and determination and has gone faster than she’s ever gone in the breaststroke.”
Bader is also the the No. 24 seed in the 50 freestyle at 24.12 seconds. It’s another tight race, as the No. 16 seed is at 23.94 seconds and the No. 8 is at 23.76.
She’s currently targeting the school record — 23.88 held by her cousin Anne Vormohr, who now swims at Ball State University — and hoping that would put her in position to swim in the event on Saturday.
Advancing beyond the preliminaries is a long shot for the remainder of the local contingent as South Adams senior Ashton Klopp owns the next best seed at 27th in the 100 butterfly. She is a full second behind 16th-seeded Morgan Hicks of Yorktown.
Ashley LeFever, Audrey Burson, Ashton Klopp and her twin sister Brette are also the No. 27 seed in the 200 medley relay.
In other individual races for the Starfires, Ashton Klopp is seeded 29th in the 200 freestyle and LeFever is 31st in the 100 freestyle.
Olivia Von Gunten, LeFever and the Klopps are seeded 29th in the 400 freestyle relay.
In addition to her individual races, Bader joins fellow junior Elizabeth McDowell, sophomore Vivienne Kunkler and freshman Erica Hathaway on the 200 freestyle relay team that is seeded 32nd, nearly three seconds behind 31st-seeded Crawfordsville. It’ll be an opportunity for McDowell, Kunkler and Hathaway to gain valuable experience, as each will be swimming at state for the first time.
“In all reality, this 200 free relay has accomplished their goal,” said Slavik. “They qualified for state. They won our sectional. They got us the points at sectional that we needed.
“Three of the four have never had a state experience before. This is purely I want them to go down and have fun, swim good times. It’s the chance to embrace what is Indiana high school swimming at its pinnacle. …
“If Vivienne, Erica and Elizabeth can take something away from this and start training harder to get back there next year, it makes our team better.”
Without even the slightest challenge, she obliterated her own school record by 0.64 seconds.
Now that Jay County High School junior hopes Friday night, with the best swimmers in the state pushing her, she’ll be able to take that improvement even further and perhaps all the way to the state podium.
Bader leads a group of nine local swimmers — four Patriots and five Starfires — as she enters Friday’s IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals preliminaries at Indiana Natatorium in Indianapolis as the No. 13 seed in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The fastest 16 swimmers from Friday’s races advance to Saturday’s finals, with the top eight guaranteed a state medal.
Bader, who was 11th in the event as a freshman and 21st last season, fully expects that she’ll need to be better than she was at the sectional meet to even have a chance to stay in the top 16.
“Even if I drop a little bit of time, I could still be ninth through 16th, and if I add less than two tenths, I won’t even get a chance to swim on Saturday,” she said. “So I have to go a best time on Friday night to even try to come close to getting into the top 16 to swim on Saturday.”
That’s because the breaststroke has gotten blistering fast in the last few years.
Bader’s sectional time of 1:05.2 is just 0.36 seconds behind that of eighth-seeded Olivia Trout of Concord. But it’s also only 0.33 seconds ahead of Laura Wright of Bishop Dwenger and Ali Terrell of Franklin Community, who shared the No. 16 seed. And seven more swimmers broke the 1:06 mark at their sectional meets as well.
The key to surviving Friday night in that packed field is technique. Bader has been focusing on improving her turns, finishing her kicks and breathing as fast as possible.
“I’m pretty nervous about it,” she said, “but I feel like I can go a best time, especially at state when everyone around me is about the same time as I am.”
Her coach, Matt Slavik, is confident that she can improve on her sectional time, saying that breaking the 1:04 mark is the goal. He believes being up against the best in the state will be key.
“Alex is competitor,” he said. “She is truly a gamer. And she has not been pushed yet.
“She was purely going out on her own gut and determination and has gone faster than she’s ever gone in the breaststroke.”
Bader is also the the No. 24 seed in the 50 freestyle at 24.12 seconds. It’s another tight race, as the No. 16 seed is at 23.94 seconds and the No. 8 is at 23.76.
She’s currently targeting the school record — 23.88 held by her cousin Anne Vormohr, who now swims at Ball State University — and hoping that would put her in position to swim in the event on Saturday.
Advancing beyond the preliminaries is a long shot for the remainder of the local contingent as South Adams senior Ashton Klopp owns the next best seed at 27th in the 100 butterfly. She is a full second behind 16th-seeded Morgan Hicks of Yorktown.
Ashley LeFever, Audrey Burson, Ashton Klopp and her twin sister Brette are also the No. 27 seed in the 200 medley relay.
In other individual races for the Starfires, Ashton Klopp is seeded 29th in the 200 freestyle and LeFever is 31st in the 100 freestyle.
Olivia Von Gunten, LeFever and the Klopps are seeded 29th in the 400 freestyle relay.
In addition to her individual races, Bader joins fellow junior Elizabeth McDowell, sophomore Vivienne Kunkler and freshman Erica Hathaway on the 200 freestyle relay team that is seeded 32nd, nearly three seconds behind 31st-seeded Crawfordsville. It’ll be an opportunity for McDowell, Kunkler and Hathaway to gain valuable experience, as each will be swimming at state for the first time.
“In all reality, this 200 free relay has accomplished their goal,” said Slavik. “They qualified for state. They won our sectional. They got us the points at sectional that we needed.
“Three of the four have never had a state experience before. This is purely I want them to go down and have fun, swim good times. It’s the chance to embrace what is Indiana high school swimming at its pinnacle. …
“If Vivienne, Erica and Elizabeth can take something away from this and start training harder to get back there next year, it makes our team better.”
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