January 7, 2017 at 6:35 a.m.
The Patriots got a taste of a different level of competition.
The Jay County Invitational kicked off with diving Friday evening, with the top Patriots — Gabe Blankenship and Samantha Link — each finishing in 10th place.
Coldwater’s Caleb Keck dominated the board on the boys side with 489.75 points. The West Virginia University commit was nearly 100 points ahead of runner-up Jonathan Jellison of Centerville.
Samantha Hart of Oak Hill claimed the girls title with 451.25 points. Celina’s Sawyer Weitzel followed with 422.7 points.
Blankenship led Jay County’s pair of rookie boys as he scored 209.85 points. He edged Coldwater’s Anthony Kunk by 0.9 points to crack the top 10.
Orlando Castro followed in 13th with 188.8 points.
“I’m really happy with how the boys did,” said Patriot diving coach Mandy Bruce. “First year, first 11-dive meet, I really can’t complain. They both made it through and showed some improvement on a few dives … I’m super excited about that.”
Samantha Link posted the high point total for JCHS, scoring 272.75 points. She was 11 points behind ninth-place Alayna Wagner of Oak Hill.
Mackenzie Knisely of the Patriots followed her teammate in 11th place with 246.1 points.
“The girls have a couple of dives that they could have definitely done better, and they know that,” said Bruce, who said she wants to work on direction of dives, solid finishes and confidence in the next two weeks prior to the Allen County Athletic Conference meet at JCHS. “I think just those three things alone will make a huge difference.”
The level of competition, Bruce added, should be a good thing for Link, who hopes to advance to regional competition this season.
“It puts things a little bit more into perspective,” Bruce said. “Hopefully if sectional goes well and we out into regionals, this meet will prepare us for regionals.”
The Jay County Invitational kicked off with diving Friday evening, with the top Patriots — Gabe Blankenship and Samantha Link — each finishing in 10th place.
Coldwater’s Caleb Keck dominated the board on the boys side with 489.75 points. The West Virginia University commit was nearly 100 points ahead of runner-up Jonathan Jellison of Centerville.
Samantha Hart of Oak Hill claimed the girls title with 451.25 points. Celina’s Sawyer Weitzel followed with 422.7 points.
Blankenship led Jay County’s pair of rookie boys as he scored 209.85 points. He edged Coldwater’s Anthony Kunk by 0.9 points to crack the top 10.
Orlando Castro followed in 13th with 188.8 points.
“I’m really happy with how the boys did,” said Patriot diving coach Mandy Bruce. “First year, first 11-dive meet, I really can’t complain. They both made it through and showed some improvement on a few dives … I’m super excited about that.”
Samantha Link posted the high point total for JCHS, scoring 272.75 points. She was 11 points behind ninth-place Alayna Wagner of Oak Hill.
Mackenzie Knisely of the Patriots followed her teammate in 11th place with 246.1 points.
“The girls have a couple of dives that they could have definitely done better, and they know that,” said Bruce, who said she wants to work on direction of dives, solid finishes and confidence in the next two weeks prior to the Allen County Athletic Conference meet at JCHS. “I think just those three things alone will make a huge difference.”
The level of competition, Bruce added, should be a good thing for Link, who hopes to advance to regional competition this season.
“It puts things a little bit more into perspective,” Bruce said. “Hopefully if sectional goes well and we out into regionals, this meet will prepare us for regionals.”
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