Patriot girls swim team favored for sectional

The ribbons and the trophy don’t get distributed until Saturday.

Any team that wants to collect those must first set themselves up for success.

The Patriots did.

With three entrants in each individual event of Thursday’s preliminaries, the Jay County High School girls swim team advanced nearly all of them to Saturday’s finals to set itself up as the sectional favorite.

Coach Matt Slavik, who is typically “stoked” about his team’s strong performances, broke out a new adjective — ecstatic — to describe its effort.

“This is a testament to their hard work and the grin that they’ve gone through all season long,” he added. “It worked out better than what I could hope.

“It’s going to be a fun Saturday at the finals.”

Based on the preliminary results, the Patriots are favorites to win their third title in four years by about a 60-point margin over Norwell.

Those two teams are well ahead of the rest of the field — South Adams, which matched the top two squads with three No. 1 seeds, Delta and Bluffton as positioned to battle for third place — for the sectional that resumes Saturday with diving preliminaries at 9 a.m. and swimming and diving finals at 1 p.m.

All of the No. 1 seeds for the Jay County involved senior Alex Bader, a returning state medalist in the 100-yard breaststroke. She cruised to the top spot in that race in 1:07.13, more than four seconds ahead of teammate Vivienne Kunkler. She also led the field in the 50 freestyle in 23.98 with Ashley LeFever of South Adams (24.87) and fellow Patriot Ashlyn Dow (25.18) behind her in second and third.

Bader also led off the top effort by a JCHS relay Tuesday, joining Jenna Dunfee, Dow and Kunkler for the top seed in the 200 freestyle event by nearly nine seconds over Bellmont in 1:44.12.

Eliza Bader, Alex’s freshman sister, was the No. 2 seed in both the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. She trailed Olivia Von Gunten (1:00.18) of South Adams by 1.01 seconds in the former.

Other No. 2 seeds for the Patriots came from Erica Hathaway in the 500 freestyle and Dow, who trailed South Adams’ Ashley LeFever (53.35) in the 100 freestyle.

Jay County was also second Thursday in each of the other two relays, with Lilly Clemmons, Rieley Brewster, Dow and Hathaway teaming up in the 200 medley and Elizabeth McDowell, Brewster, Hathaway and Kunkler handling the 400 freestyle.

In addition to their No. 2 seeds, Hathaway claimed the No. 4 spot in the 200 freestyle and Kunkler was sixth in the 100 freestyle.

Clemmons and Brewster, both freshman, and McDowell, a senior, joined the Baders, Dow, Hathaway and McDowell by earning top-eight seeds in both of their individual events. For Clemmons, it was third in the 200 individual medley and fifth in the 100 freestyle. McDowell took fourth in the 500 freestyle and fifth in the 100 butterfly, and Brewster was fifth in the 100 backstroke and seventh in the 200 IM.

LeFever and Von Gunten not only had the individual top seeds for South Adams, but also joined with Isabella Bailey and Isabel Von Gunten to claim to the top spot ahead of Jay County in the 200 medley relay in 1:55.8.

Olivia Von Gunten was also fifth in the 200 freestyle, and her sister Isabel was fifth in the 50 freestyle and seventh in the 100 freestyle. Isabella Bailey was fourth in the 100 breaststroke and sixth in the 200 IM. Julia Grabau added a No. 6 seed in the 100 breaststroke.

Advancing to the consolation finals for the Patriots were Emma James (11th – IM, 12th – breaststroke), Jenna Dunfee (12th –- 50 freestyle, 15th – 200 freestyle), Kaitlyn Dow (10th – backstroke), Hannah James (12th – 500 freestyle) and Kelly Strausburg (16th – 100 butterfly).

Slavik specifically pointed out Strausburg, who sliced four seconds off of her best time to claim the final qualifying spot in the butterfly.

“Every single girl that was on our roster tonight contributed immensely,” he said. “Our depth, it definitely showed tonight. The girls came through and exceeded my expectations.”

Qualifying for Saturday’s consolation races for South Adams were Amara Mikesell (14th – 200 IM, 13th – 100 backstroke), Hannah Neuenschwander (13th –- 100 butterfly, 16th – 200 freestyle) and Hannah Hinshaw (15th – 200 IM).