Patriots favored to repeat

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Bring everyone back.

That was the goal Matt Slavik put in place for his Patriot squad heading into Thursday’s sectional prelims.

Grabbing the top seed is a sure way to score points, but its the other places that are just as crucial.

Jay County High School’s girls swim team was two spots away from returning three in each event, garnered the top seed in five races and put itself as the favorite to repeat as champions from its performance in the sectional preliminaries it hosted on Thursday.

“Just a recap in general I thought the girls had a great night tonight,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik, whose team has won three of the last four sectional championships after ending a drought of 40 years. “Our goal was to have everybody back and we came two events short of that.”

South Adams will be represented in the front of the pack in two events as the meet resumes Saturday. Diving is slated to begin at 10 a.m. with the swimming consolation and finals races set for 1 p.m.

Jay County grabbed its first top seed in the meet-opening 200-yard freestyle relay as Eliza Bader, Vivienne Kunkler, Rieley Brewster and Ashlyn Dow teamed to finish with a time of 1 minute, 54.04 seconds, more than three seconds faster than Norwell.

In terms of the team competition, Jay County is projected to outscore Norwell 376-318 in the swimming events as the top two squads.

“It’s going to come down to where we can finish Saturday,” Slavik said. “Norwell had a great night tonight. There were a lot of great swims tonight.”

Bader, Kunkler and Dow each earned the top seed in one individual event as well. Bader is the No. 1 seed in the 100 butterfly with her time of 1:01.08, a clip that is three seconds ahead of Burris’ Katie Decker. Bader is also seeded second in the 50 freestyle.

Kunkler was the lead swimmer in the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.06, with Bluffton’s Morgan Pulver a distant second. She’ll join Bader in the championship heat of the 50 freestyle as well.

The top eight times from Friday will swim in the championship heat with places nine through 16 competing in the consolation final.

Dow earned her No. 1 seed in the 200 individual medley in 2:19.17. Ella Baldwin of Winchester, who practices with Jay County, is seeded second at 2:25.89. Dow is also the No. 2 seed in the 100 freestyle.

Erica Hathaway joined Bader, Dow and Kunkler to give the Patriots’ the top seed in the 200 freestyle relay as they had a time of 1:44.87. The South Adams quartet of Isabel Von Gunten, Claire Burson, Hannah Neuenschwander and Ashley LeFever are seeded second by more than three seconds. The same Starfire four are third in the 200 medley relay.

“The list goes on as far as setting ourselves up as a team to go into Saturday,” Slavik said. “We’re sitting really good. At the same time Norwell is sitting good.”

Norwell holds the top spot in the 100 backstroke and 400 freestyle relay events.

But it’s the Patriots who aren’t necessarily near the top of the seedings who have helped put the team in a great position to keep the sectional trophy in Portland.

Hathaway is the No. 4 seed in both the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. Brewster is seventh and eighth respectively in the 100 butterfly and 200 IM. Lilli Clemmons finished fifth in the 100 backstroke and eighth in the 100 freestyle. Elyana Paro will be seeded fifth in the 500 freestyle and seventh in the 100 breaststroke.

Junior Emma James earned the No. 5 seed in the 100 breaststroke to give Jay County three in the championship heat on Saturday. The Patriot 400 freestyle relay team of Clemmons, Paro, Brewster and Hathaway is the second seed behind Norwell.

“When it comes down to it, it’s a numbers game,” Slavik said. “Regardless of what happens we’ll still score championship points.

“The higher the numbers you can put in each event, particularly that top heat, is more point opportunities available to you.”

Ashley LeFever will cap her senior season for South Adams as the top seed in both the sprint freestyle races. Her time of 24.9 seconds in the 50 freestyle is just one-tenth faster than Bader, while she leads Dow in the 100 freestyle (54.12) by almost two seconds. Neuenschwander joins LeFever in the championship heat of the 50 freestyle as the eighth seed while Isabel Von Gunten is seeded fifth in the 100 freestyle.

Swimming in the championship heats for South Adams on Saturday will be Neuenschwander (eighth – 50 freestyle)

Competing in the consolation finals for Jay County are Hannah James (ninth – 200 freestyle, 10th – 500 freestyle), Kaitlyn Dow (12th – 200 freestyle, 12th – 100 backstroke), Emma James (13th – 200 IM), Kelly Strausburg (16th – 100 butterfly), and Emily Dues (16th – 100 freestyle).

Consolation finals participants for South Adams are Neuenschwander (ninth – 100 butterfly) and Claire Burson (10th – 200 freestyle, 11th – 500 freestyle).