February 4, 2018 at 3:25 a.m.
Jay climbs to another title
Patriots earn state berths in six events.
Jay climbs to another title
When Erica Hathaway and Eliza Bader walked onto the pool deck Saturday, they weren’t leading the way. They had not chosen the song that was playing.
Based on Thursday’s preliminaries, they were not No. 1 seeds, not expected to win.
But that was Thursday.
Hathaway and Bader carried strong starts in the 500-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly, respectively, to a pair of first-time state berths. Those two victories along with two more titles for senior Alex Bader and two relay wins powered the host Jay County High School girls swim team Saturday to its third sectional title in four years.
“It’s unimaginable,” said Hathaway, a sophomore. “I’m just so excited.”
“There’s not a better feeling you could ask for,” added senior Elizabeth McDowell. “I’m so happy.”
Jay County scored 431.5 points to blow away runner-up Norwell by 100.5 with Delta (264) in third. The winner of each swimming event heads to next weekend’s state finals at Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.
South Adams, led by 100 freestyle champion Ashley LeFever, was fourth in the 12-team field with 248.
“Only having eight girls … I’m very pleased with the performance overall,” said SAHS coach Andy Lehman.
The efforts from Hathaway and Bader typified the Patriots’ day as their individual competitors surpassed their seed in eight out of 23 swims (along with Alex Bader holding both of her top seeds).
Eliza Bader, who had been dealing with strep throat since Wednesday and was seeded second behind Olivia Von Gunten of South Adams, launched herself off the blocks and into the lead. She never let Von Gunten get close, instead racing the clock to a career-best time of 59.44 seconds to mark her first time breaking the 1-minute barrier.
Hathaway was the No. 2 seed behind Libby Dall of Delta for the 500 freestyle, but also set the tone early. She had a lead of more than a second over teammate Elizabeth McDowell, the No. 4 seed, and more than two seconds over the rest of the field after the first 50 yards and just kept extending the advantage. She was more than half a length of the pool ahead of everyone except McDowell by the final lap as the pair of Patriots went one-two in 5 minutes, 45 seconds, and 5:49.53, respectively.
The strategy for Hathaway in the longest race of the day was fairly simple: “Sprint it all,” she said. “I could not take any of it easy. I knew I had to sprint the whole thing.”
Jay County also jumped up a spot to win the meet-opening 200 medley relay as it switched out three of the four competitors from Thursday’s preliminaries. The only one that remained was Ashlyn Dow, who joined the Bader sisters and McDowell for a victory by more than three seconds over top-seeded South Adams in 1:51.16.
Alex Bader, a returning state medalist, was dominant as she surpassed the state cut time in both of her events. She and teammate Vivienne Kunkler went one-two in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.78 and a career-best 1:08.7, respectively, and she took the 50 freestyle over LeFever in 23.91.
Based on Thursday’s preliminaries, they were not No. 1 seeds, not expected to win.
But that was Thursday.
Hathaway and Bader carried strong starts in the 500-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly, respectively, to a pair of first-time state berths. Those two victories along with two more titles for senior Alex Bader and two relay wins powered the host Jay County High School girls swim team Saturday to its third sectional title in four years.
“It’s unimaginable,” said Hathaway, a sophomore. “I’m just so excited.”
“There’s not a better feeling you could ask for,” added senior Elizabeth McDowell. “I’m so happy.”
Jay County scored 431.5 points to blow away runner-up Norwell by 100.5 with Delta (264) in third. The winner of each swimming event heads to next weekend’s state finals at Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.
South Adams, led by 100 freestyle champion Ashley LeFever, was fourth in the 12-team field with 248.
“Only having eight girls … I’m very pleased with the performance overall,” said SAHS coach Andy Lehman.
The efforts from Hathaway and Bader typified the Patriots’ day as their individual competitors surpassed their seed in eight out of 23 swims (along with Alex Bader holding both of her top seeds).
Eliza Bader, who had been dealing with strep throat since Wednesday and was seeded second behind Olivia Von Gunten of South Adams, launched herself off the blocks and into the lead. She never let Von Gunten get close, instead racing the clock to a career-best time of 59.44 seconds to mark her first time breaking the 1-minute barrier.
Hathaway was the No. 2 seed behind Libby Dall of Delta for the 500 freestyle, but also set the tone early. She had a lead of more than a second over teammate Elizabeth McDowell, the No. 4 seed, and more than two seconds over the rest of the field after the first 50 yards and just kept extending the advantage. She was more than half a length of the pool ahead of everyone except McDowell by the final lap as the pair of Patriots went one-two in 5 minutes, 45 seconds, and 5:49.53, respectively.
The strategy for Hathaway in the longest race of the day was fairly simple: “Sprint it all,” she said. “I could not take any of it easy. I knew I had to sprint the whole thing.”
Jay County also jumped up a spot to win the meet-opening 200 medley relay as it switched out three of the four competitors from Thursday’s preliminaries. The only one that remained was Ashlyn Dow, who joined the Bader sisters and McDowell for a victory by more than three seconds over top-seeded South Adams in 1:51.16.
Alex Bader, a returning state medalist, was dominant as she surpassed the state cut time in both of her events. She and teammate Vivienne Kunkler went one-two in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.78 and a career-best 1:08.7, respectively, and she took the 50 freestyle over LeFever in 23.91.
The competition was also never close for the Patriots in their other state-qualifying event, as Kunkler, Dow and the Baders took the 200 freestyle relay by more than 10 seconds in 1:42.44.
After finishing second to Alex Bader in the 50 freestyle, LeFever refused to let anyone get close in the 100. She had a lead by more than a second after the first 50 yards and pulled away in the second half of the race to win in 52.66 over Norwell’s Morgan Markley.
“She was really, really in control of that race,” said Lehman. “She really has good stamina. If you compare her split times, she can really carry over into that second 50. … That really helps her.”
In addition to the wins by Hathaway and Eliza Bader, and the runner-up finish by McDowell, the following JCHS swimmers improved on their seeds:
•Jenna Dunfee twice, climbing from 15th to 11th in the 200 freestyle and 12th to 10th in the 50 freestyle.
•Hathaway from fourth to second in the 200 freestyle.
•Kunkler from sixth to fourth in the 100 freestyle.
•Rieley Brewster from seventh to fifth in the 200 individual medley.
And competing in an 11-dive meet for the first time after taking up the event just last week, Gabby Kunkler placed 11th out of 13 to contribute six points.
“Jenna, oh my God, in her 200 free starting out swimming a couple seconds faster and coming back in the 50 free — one, it’s not an easy lineup to swim, getting that one-event break, but she dropped time in both of them, moved up, scored more points,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik. “She did exactly what we asked her to do. That’s a great thing.”
Eliza Bader held her No. 2 seed in the 100 backstroke behind Norwell’s Alyssa Cyrus, and Ashlyn Dow was third in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 50 freestyle. Lilly Clemmons finished fourth in the 200 IM and sixth in the 100 freestyle, McDowell placed fifth in the 100 butterfly and Mackenzie Knisely took seventh in diving. The Patriot team of Hathaway, McDowell, Clemmons and Vivienne Kunkler also claimed the runner-up spot in the 400 freestyle relay.
Olivia Von Gunten added a fifth-place finish for South Adams in the 200 freestyle, and Julia Grabau was fifth in diving and seventh in the 100 breaststroke. Others in the top eight for the Starfires were Isabella Bailey ( fourth – 100 breaststroke, seventh – 200 IM) and Isabel Von Gunten (sixth –- 50 freestyle, eighth – 100 freestyle). The Starfires were also third in the 400 freestyle relay.
Also scoring points for the champion Patriots were Kaitlyn Dow (10th – 100 backstroke), Emma James (11th – 200 IM, 12th – 100 breaststroke), Hannah James (13th – 500 freestyle) and Kelly Strausburg (16th – 100 butterfly).
“Any time you can come into this sectional and put two or three people in every single final, it’s a great feeling,” said Slavik, whose team was undefeated in dual meets and won the Allen County Athletic Conference title. “For the girls, this season has been one to dream of.”
South Adams was eight in the 200 freestyle relay. Competing in the consolation finals for the Starfires were Hannah Neuenschwander (13th –- 100 butterfly, 15th -– 200 freestyle), Amara Mikesell (13th – 100 backstroke, 14th – 200 IM) and Hannah Hinshaw (15th – 200 IM).
For full results from the meet, click here.
After finishing second to Alex Bader in the 50 freestyle, LeFever refused to let anyone get close in the 100. She had a lead by more than a second after the first 50 yards and pulled away in the second half of the race to win in 52.66 over Norwell’s Morgan Markley.
“She was really, really in control of that race,” said Lehman. “She really has good stamina. If you compare her split times, she can really carry over into that second 50. … That really helps her.”
In addition to the wins by Hathaway and Eliza Bader, and the runner-up finish by McDowell, the following JCHS swimmers improved on their seeds:
•Jenna Dunfee twice, climbing from 15th to 11th in the 200 freestyle and 12th to 10th in the 50 freestyle.
•Hathaway from fourth to second in the 200 freestyle.
•Kunkler from sixth to fourth in the 100 freestyle.
•Rieley Brewster from seventh to fifth in the 200 individual medley.
And competing in an 11-dive meet for the first time after taking up the event just last week, Gabby Kunkler placed 11th out of 13 to contribute six points.
“Jenna, oh my God, in her 200 free starting out swimming a couple seconds faster and coming back in the 50 free — one, it’s not an easy lineup to swim, getting that one-event break, but she dropped time in both of them, moved up, scored more points,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik. “She did exactly what we asked her to do. That’s a great thing.”
Eliza Bader held her No. 2 seed in the 100 backstroke behind Norwell’s Alyssa Cyrus, and Ashlyn Dow was third in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 50 freestyle. Lilly Clemmons finished fourth in the 200 IM and sixth in the 100 freestyle, McDowell placed fifth in the 100 butterfly and Mackenzie Knisely took seventh in diving. The Patriot team of Hathaway, McDowell, Clemmons and Vivienne Kunkler also claimed the runner-up spot in the 400 freestyle relay.
Olivia Von Gunten added a fifth-place finish for South Adams in the 200 freestyle, and Julia Grabau was fifth in diving and seventh in the 100 breaststroke. Others in the top eight for the Starfires were Isabella Bailey ( fourth – 100 breaststroke, seventh – 200 IM) and Isabel Von Gunten (sixth –- 50 freestyle, eighth – 100 freestyle). The Starfires were also third in the 400 freestyle relay.
Also scoring points for the champion Patriots were Kaitlyn Dow (10th – 100 backstroke), Emma James (11th – 200 IM, 12th – 100 breaststroke), Hannah James (13th – 500 freestyle) and Kelly Strausburg (16th – 100 butterfly).
“Any time you can come into this sectional and put two or three people in every single final, it’s a great feeling,” said Slavik, whose team was undefeated in dual meets and won the Allen County Athletic Conference title. “For the girls, this season has been one to dream of.”
South Adams was eight in the 200 freestyle relay. Competing in the consolation finals for the Starfires were Hannah Neuenschwander (13th –- 100 butterfly, 15th -– 200 freestyle), Amara Mikesell (13th – 100 backstroke, 14th – 200 IM) and Hannah Hinshaw (15th – 200 IM).
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