Jay County boys swimmers have numbers

In years past, sheer numbers have hampered the Patriot boys swimmers.

For some meets, they didn’t have enough to fill every race.

It won’t be a problem this year.

“We have a lot of new blood, which has helped boost our numbers,” said Jay County High School boys swim coach Matt Slavik. “It’s exciting going in having some numbers knowing that you’re not going to get pointed because you can’t fill spots.

“At least we know athletically we can fill spots as well as number wise.”

Senior Garrett Campbell and junior Tayler Smeltzer return as the top swimmers, having both placed in the top eight during the sectional meet a year ago.

Campbell was sixth and seventh respectively in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races. Smeltzer was fourth in the 100 butterfly.

“They have the hardware from sectionals past,” Slavik said. “Tayler brings some diversity in the (individual medley) and butterfly-type strokes.

“Garrett Campbell is a flat out freestyler.”

Slavik said he will be counting on them to help the team improve from its ninth-place finish in the 2017 sectional.

“Our team goal this year for the boys is I would want to see a top-four at our sectional,” he said “I think a top three is possible.”

Luke Nichols, another senior, and junior Skyler Myers showed improvement last season that pleased Slavik. Nichols is a breaststroker, and Myers is a freestyle swimmer whose coach said is swimming faster now than he was at the end of his sophomore campaign.

Sophomores Chase McFarland and Ben Strausburg, along with freshman Griffin Mann, help highlight a group of a dozen underclassmen.

Jay County has four divers, including junior Gabe Blankenship and sophomore Orlando Castro. 

“Both made a lot of improvement last year (and are) showing a lot of good stuff this year,” Slavik said. They were 11th and 12th respectively last season at sectional.

Freshmen Giovanni Perod and Justice Murphy are also coming in as divers and can help improve the Patriots’ performance on the board.

Kaleb Keihn, Reid Claycomb, Avery Dann, Tait Longsworth, Calvin Whitney and Mitchell Brown complete the 19-member team.

The Patriots open their season Tuesday at home against Bluffton. They have home meets against Oak Hill (Dec. 5), South Adams (Dec. 11) and Celina (Jan. 4) before hosting the Jay County Invitational on Jan. 5 and 6.

Jay County hosts the Allen County Athletic Conference meet on Jan. 19 and 20.

“Hoping with who we have we can make a run at our conference,” he said. “Bluffton has won each of the last two years. I think we’ve got as good a shot as anyone right now.”

It’s the depth Slavik feels will help carry the Patriots in that meet.

“All the way across the board everyone that is returning, we’re able to compete a lot stronger just based on numbers,” he said. “We’re going to field two relays or more in every event.

“It’s going to be a really exciting season. Attitudes are great and they’re ready to go. Makes it a lot more fun when they’re fired up.”