Jay swimmers repeat

It was expected to be close.

And it was, for a while.

Then the Patriots showed why their depth was so crucial.

Jay County put three swimmers into the top 12 of both the 100-yard butterfly and 100 freestyle, outscoring rival Norwell by 32 points in those events to break the sectional meet wide open. The host Patriots went on to grab three of the top nine spots in the 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke as they racked up 390 points to finish 64 ahead of the runner-up Knights.

“It’s much more fun when you know it’s going to be a close meet and then you break it wide open,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik during his post-meet talk with his team, relaying a comment sophomore Ashlyn Dow made to him as Saturday’s events were unfolding. 

“It really rings true,” he added a few minutes later. “When we looked at this meet … we had a 12-point advantage (based on times). … They came through Thursday night and had a tremendous run. … And the way they came out and swam Thursday, I knew that we were going to be on today. … The girls came through all day long.”

Senior Vivienne Kunkler and sophomores Eliza Bader and Dow led the way for champion Jay County, each earning an individual state berth. That same trio also teamed with Rieley Brewster to win the 200 medley relay and Erica Hathaway to take the 200 freestyle relay, both of which will also compete in the state meet that begins with preliminaries Friday at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.

Ashley LeFever of South Adams earned sectional titles and state berths in the 50 and 100 freestyle to lead the Starfires to an eighth-place finish in the 12-team field with 168 points.

The Patriots had reason to be nervous given their early-season results against Norwell. They trailed the host Knights in the season-opening Norwell Invitational and then dropped the dual meet 159-135.

Jay County was nursing just a six-point lead after diving Saturday before leaving the Knights in their wake.

Bader secured her individual state berth by winning the 100 butterfly by more than three seconds in 59.55. Teammate Rieley Brewster posted a fourth-place finish — she was seeded seventh — and Kelly Strausburg was 14th.

The Patriot group of Lilli Clemmons, Emily Dues and Dow then finished third, fifth and 15th, respectively, behind champion LeFever (53.25) to essentially put the meet out of reach.

“It’s awesome,” said Dow’s senior sister, Kaitlyn. “We weren’t sure what would happen going into it because we had a great season but we lost to Norwell at the beginning of the year. And we knew that it could go either way. But we had a great night on Thursday and that just gave us more drive and more motivation to do even better today. The girls did amazing.”

Ashlyn Dow earned her state berth by taking the 200 individual medley by more than five seconds in 2 minutes, 16.93 seconds, and Kunkler was equally dominant in the 100 breaststroke with her time of 1:07.27.

Kunkler, Bader and Ashlyn Dow teamed with Brewster to take the meet-opening 200 medley relay in 1:50.22 and with Hathaway to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:41.78.

LeFever fought off Bader for her other victory by 0.46 seconds with her time of 24.54.

Jay County took second place in the other relay, with Elayna Paro, Brewster, Hathaway and Clemmons posting a time of 3:58.36 behind Norwell’s 3:45.46.

Hathaway placed third in the 500-yard freestyle and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, with Kunkler fourth in the 50 freestyle and Clemmons fourth in the 100 backstroke. Paro was sixth in the 500 freestyle, and Brewster placed seventh in the 200 individual medley. 

The Patriots showed their typical strength in the breaststroke with Paro and Emma James placing seventh and eighth, respectively, behind champion Kunkler.

Isabel Von Gunten was the only member of the small Starfire squad to join LeFever in the top eight. She was fifth in the 50 freestyle and seventh in the 100 freestyle.

LeFever and Von Gunten also teamed with Claire Burson and Hannah Neuenschwander for second in the 200 freestyle relay and third in the 200 medley relay.

Also scoring for Jay County were Hannah James (ninth - 500 freestyle, 10th – 200 freestyle), Kassidy Fennig (10th – diving), Kaitlyn Dow (11th – 100 backstroke, 11th – 200 freestyle), Emma James (12th – 200 IM),

Adding points in consolation race for the Starfires were Burson (ninth – 200 freestyle, 10th – 500 freestyle) and Neuenschwander (ninth – 100 butterfly).