January 20, 2018 at 10:49 p.m.
Jay girls reclaim ACAC title
JCHS/SAHS swimming
Jay girls reclaim ACAC title
The coach of the event winner gets to hand out ribbons.
That job belonged to Matt Slavik and his staff, all day long.
The host Jay County High School girls won every event at Saturday’s Allen County Athletic Conference Swimming Championships and went one-two five times to rack up 459 points in reclaiming the title from 2017 champion South Adams.
“I never thought it would be possible to win all swimming events and be All-ACAC in every event,” said Slavik, whose team also got a record-breaking swim from senior Alex Bader. “These girls proved me wrong. It was just incredible drive and determination by these kids. It was a great day.”
Bluffton was a distant second with 293 points while the Starfires — they took the only event not claimed by the Patriots when Julia Grabau won the diving competition Friday night — placed third with 253. Adams Central (222) rounded out the field.
Jay County’s boys held the No. 2 spot for most of the day before sliding late to a third-place finish with 308 points behind champion Bluffton (397), which was was led by a record-breaking swim from Jack Ringer in the 100 breaststroke, and runner-up Adams Central (336).
“Our boys today, the way that their results came in, I was able to look at all of them and say, ‘Your hard work is paying off,’” said Slavik. “We had a lot of milestones today.”
South Adams, which placed fourth with 277, got a couple of record swims from Zach Colpaert.
“I can’t complain,” said SAHS coach Andy Lehman. “We had 39 individual swims today, and we had 28 personal-best swims, across the board, boys and girls. The kids worked their tails off today.”
While Bader, her sister Eliza, Ashlyn Dow and Erica Hathaway recorded the eight individual wins, perhaps no one displayed the Patriots’ dominant depth more than Rieley Brewster.
The freshman found herself in fifth place midway through the first individual event of the day — the 200 freestyle. But over the course of the next 75 yards she pulled even with South Adams’ Isabella Bailey and the Bluffton duo of Autumn Davis and Addison Schreiber.
Seeming to get stronger as the race went on, pulled away from that trio in the final 25 yards and trailed only Hathaway (2 minutes, 11.58 seconds) as she secured a one-two finish for the Patriots in 2:14.62. Her split in the final 50 yards was 1.3 seconds faster than anyone else in the pool.
Brewster was part of another of Jay County’s one-two finishes later as she followed Eliza Bader (1:03.66) with a time of 1:09.71 in the 100 backstroke.
“Rieley is a strong freshman,” said Slavik. “She’s got an incredible amount of talent and is coming on strong for us.
“I told her I’m going to put her as my No. 1 in an event (for sectional in two weeks), and I think she’s going to come through for us. She certainly has played a great supporting role. I think it’s time for her to move to the main stage.”
Dow and Vivienne Kunkler teamed up for a pair of one-two finishes for the Patriots, the first with times of 25.66 and 26.5, respectively, in the 50 freestyle. Their second race came down to a fingertip, with Dow winning the 100 breaststroke by four hundredths of a second in 1:10.39.
Eliza Bader’s other victory also led a one-two effort as she and Elizabeth McDowell posted times of 1:01.4 and 1:05.17, respectively, in the 100 butterfly.
Alex Bader’s record came in a showdown against South Adams’ Ashley LeFever in the 200 individual medley that was neck-and-neck through the first 100 yards. But Bader’s dominance in the breaststroke leg launched her into the lead and she obliterated her own mark of 2:12.64 set in 2015 with a time of 2:09.84.
The senior also fought off LeFever in the 100 freestyle by 1.1 seconds as she finished in 52.55. Hathaway’s other victory came in the 500 freestyle ahead of Olivia VonGunten of South Adams in 5:53.87.
The Bader sisters and Dow teamed with McDowell to take the 200 medley relay in 1:52.41 and joined Kunkler for the win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:40.31. Lilli Clemmons, Hathaway, Kunkler and McDowell posted a time of 4:01.26 to take the 400 freestyle relay.
Colpaert led the Starfires by surpassing his own records from a year ago to win both the 50 freestyle in 21.83 and the 100 freestyle in 49.89. The other South Adams victory came from Kamden Yoder in the 100 butterfly in 57.43.
That job belonged to Matt Slavik and his staff, all day long.
The host Jay County High School girls won every event at Saturday’s Allen County Athletic Conference Swimming Championships and went one-two five times to rack up 459 points in reclaiming the title from 2017 champion South Adams.
“I never thought it would be possible to win all swimming events and be All-ACAC in every event,” said Slavik, whose team also got a record-breaking swim from senior Alex Bader. “These girls proved me wrong. It was just incredible drive and determination by these kids. It was a great day.”
Bluffton was a distant second with 293 points while the Starfires — they took the only event not claimed by the Patriots when Julia Grabau won the diving competition Friday night — placed third with 253. Adams Central (222) rounded out the field.
Jay County’s boys held the No. 2 spot for most of the day before sliding late to a third-place finish with 308 points behind champion Bluffton (397), which was was led by a record-breaking swim from Jack Ringer in the 100 breaststroke, and runner-up Adams Central (336).
“Our boys today, the way that their results came in, I was able to look at all of them and say, ‘Your hard work is paying off,’” said Slavik. “We had a lot of milestones today.”
South Adams, which placed fourth with 277, got a couple of record swims from Zach Colpaert.
“I can’t complain,” said SAHS coach Andy Lehman. “We had 39 individual swims today, and we had 28 personal-best swims, across the board, boys and girls. The kids worked their tails off today.”
While Bader, her sister Eliza, Ashlyn Dow and Erica Hathaway recorded the eight individual wins, perhaps no one displayed the Patriots’ dominant depth more than Rieley Brewster.
The freshman found herself in fifth place midway through the first individual event of the day — the 200 freestyle. But over the course of the next 75 yards she pulled even with South Adams’ Isabella Bailey and the Bluffton duo of Autumn Davis and Addison Schreiber.
Seeming to get stronger as the race went on, pulled away from that trio in the final 25 yards and trailed only Hathaway (2 minutes, 11.58 seconds) as she secured a one-two finish for the Patriots in 2:14.62. Her split in the final 50 yards was 1.3 seconds faster than anyone else in the pool.
Brewster was part of another of Jay County’s one-two finishes later as she followed Eliza Bader (1:03.66) with a time of 1:09.71 in the 100 backstroke.
“Rieley is a strong freshman,” said Slavik. “She’s got an incredible amount of talent and is coming on strong for us.
“I told her I’m going to put her as my No. 1 in an event (for sectional in two weeks), and I think she’s going to come through for us. She certainly has played a great supporting role. I think it’s time for her to move to the main stage.”
Dow and Vivienne Kunkler teamed up for a pair of one-two finishes for the Patriots, the first with times of 25.66 and 26.5, respectively, in the 50 freestyle. Their second race came down to a fingertip, with Dow winning the 100 breaststroke by four hundredths of a second in 1:10.39.
Eliza Bader’s other victory also led a one-two effort as she and Elizabeth McDowell posted times of 1:01.4 and 1:05.17, respectively, in the 100 butterfly.
Alex Bader’s record came in a showdown against South Adams’ Ashley LeFever in the 200 individual medley that was neck-and-neck through the first 100 yards. But Bader’s dominance in the breaststroke leg launched her into the lead and she obliterated her own mark of 2:12.64 set in 2015 with a time of 2:09.84.
The senior also fought off LeFever in the 100 freestyle by 1.1 seconds as she finished in 52.55. Hathaway’s other victory came in the 500 freestyle ahead of Olivia VonGunten of South Adams in 5:53.87.
The Bader sisters and Dow teamed with McDowell to take the 200 medley relay in 1:52.41 and joined Kunkler for the win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:40.31. Lilli Clemmons, Hathaway, Kunkler and McDowell posted a time of 4:01.26 to take the 400 freestyle relay.
Colpaert led the Starfires by surpassing his own records from a year ago to win both the 50 freestyle in 21.83 and the 100 freestyle in 49.89. The other South Adams victory came from Kamden Yoder in the 100 butterfly in 57.43.
“Zach has been working really, really hard to break that 22 mark in his 50 free this year,” said Lehman. “He successfully did it. …
“(Kamden) went out really hard in the IM so I think he was able to take that momentum with him and transfer it to the fly.”
Tayler Smeltzer turned in the top finish of the day for the Jay County boys team in the 200 IM. He was first after the opening butterfly leg, dropped back to fourth at the mid-point of the race and then climbed back to second as he finished in 2:17.68.“(Kamden) went out really hard in the IM so I think he was able to take that momentum with him and transfer it to the fly.”
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