Jay girls defeat Tigers

The Patriot girls put together a strong start to their dual-meet season.

The boys suffered an opening loss against a conference rival.

Jay County High School’s girls swim team won all three relays and had three double winners in individual events as they defeated the visiting Bluffton Tigers 164-128 Tuesday. The boys team lost 181-124.

Ashlyn Dow and sisters Eliza and Mara Bader set the tone for the Patriot girls with two wins apiece.

Dow bridged the break with victories in the 50-yard freestyle in 26.27 seconds and 100 butterfly in 1 minute, 7.59 second. Her win in the butterfly came by more than five seconds as teammates Rieley Brewster and Kearsten Myers followed in second and third, respectively.

Eliza Bader was first in the 100 butterfly in 56.83 and 100 backstroke in 1:04.77 while Mara Bader posted winning times of 2:30.07 in the 200 individual medley and 1:16.03 in the 100 breaststroke.

Kyle Sanders was the only JCHS boy to win an individual event. He swept the sprints, taking first in the 50 freestyle in 24.28 and 100 freestyle in 54.25.



Girls hoops falls

FOUNTAIN CITY — A rough second quarter buried the Jay County High School girls basketball team in a 60-47 loss Tuesday to the host Northeastern Knights.

The Patriots (1-5), who have now dropped four in a row, built a nine-point lead at the end of the third quarter. That advantage disappeared as Northeastern (6-1) outscored JCHS 22-7 in the second quarter and then continued to open its advantage in the second half.

Freshman Renna Schwieterman scored 21 points to lead Jay County. Senior Hallie Fields followed with 12 points and Madison Dirksen had eight.

The Patriots won the junior varsity game 39-35. Gabi Bilbrey led the victory with 10 points and Heaven Hambrock added nine.



EJ takes two

Both East Jay Middle School girls basketball teams improved to 3-1 Tuesday. The eighth graders dominated for a 25-5 victory over visiting Bellmont while the seventh grade team eked out a 35-33 victory.

Three eighth grade Chiefs each scored more points than the entire Bellmont squad. Breanna Dirksen led the group with eight points, followed by Sophie Saxman with seven and Bella Denton with six.

Cassie Petro reached double figures for the seventh grade team with 13 points. Natalie Carreno was next with nine points.



Chiefs break through

DECATUR — The East Jay Middle School seventh grade boys basketball team earned its first victory of the season Tuesday by a 34-23 score over host Bellmont.

Eli Dirksen led the way for the Chiefs (1-2) with 11 points. Cayden Buckland followed with eight points, and Levi Muhlenkamp and Brenden Runyon added six apiece.