Choosing the Cardinals

The path has been set, and Alex Bader is committed to following it.

Bader, a Jay County High School senior, signed a national letter of intent Wednesday to swim for Ball State University, where she’ll join her sister and cousin on the Cardinal squad.

Bader had always shared the pool with her sister, Sophie Bader, and cousin, Anne Vormohr. Summer swimming, USA swimming, school swimming, they did most of it together.

That changed when the elder cousins graduated from JCHS in 2016. So while Alex Bader chose Ball State in large part because of its nursing program and swim team camaraderie, she’s also excited to be back in the pool with the two tankers she knows best.

“I had been swimming with them since I was 3 or 4 years old, and then I lost them my junior year,” she said. “Now it’s kind of cool that I’m going to be swimming with them for two more years after we’ve been apart for a little bit.”

Joining the BSU squad will continue a pattern of similarity for the girls.

Vormohr became Jay County’s first state medalist in a girls swimming event during her freshman season. Sophie Bader became the second during her senior year, after both had committed to the Cardinals.

Alex Bader joined the exclusive club last season when she finished seventh in the state in the 100-yard breaststroke. The top eight swimmers in each event earn state medals.

In the process, she shattered her own school record with a time of 1 minute, 3.94 seconds, in the state preliminaries. In addition to the breaststroke record, she also has been part of the fastest times in school history in all three relays. And she was closing in last season on Vormohr’s 50 freestyle school record of 23.88.

It’s work ethic, JCHS coach Matt Slavik said, that has powered Bader, who finished 11th in the state in the breaststroke as a freshman and 21st as a sophomore.

“First and foremost, Alex is an extremely hard worker,” he said. “She has done an outstanding job for as long as I can remember of trying to improve and honing her craft to a point where she’s gotten to be one of the top competitors in the state of Indiana … Hard work, dedication and effort all pay off, and Alex is certainly a testament to that.”

Bader has high hopes for this season — she gets to spend it in the pool with her younger sister Eliza, a Jay County freshman — including trying to lead the Patriots to Allen County Athletic Conference and sectional titles. She also wants to join Vormohr by becoming the school’s second two-time state medalist in a girls swimming event.

And she’s excited to take on her final year as a Patriot with her college decision already made.

“It feels pretty good because now I don’t have to really worry going into this season about college and where I need to go,” she said. “It’s taken a lot to get here.”