Jay swims past Bellmont

Four female swimmers accounted for 10 race victories.

The boys won more than half of the events too.

Jay County High School’s boys and girls swim teams both kicked off 2019 by knocking off sectional rival Bellmont on Wednesday.

The boys inched closer to .500 as they won 159-121, to move to 3-4 on the season. The Patriot girls improved to 5-2 with a 151-125 victory.

Chase McFarland paced the JCHS boys with a pair of wins. He was first in the 50-yard freestyle with his time of 25.07 seconds, and followed with a time of 1 minute, 5.38 seconds to win the 100 backstroke. Kyle Sanders rallied in the final 25 meters to hold off Bellmont’s Joe Bonifas in the 200 freestyle. Sanders touched the wall in 2:07.51, less than half a second ahead of runner-up Bonifas.

Griffin Mann picked up a win in the 100 freestyle (58.96 seconds), and Justice Murphy scored 153.55 points as he was uncontested in diving.

Dorane Beiswanger, Tayler Smeltzer, McFarland and Mann began the night by winning the 200 medley relay with their time of 1:52.01, and they also finished first in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:42.9.

Vivienne Kunkler, Erica Hathaway, Eliza Bader and Ashlyn Dow each had a pair of individual wins and teamed to win two relays.

Kunkler was first in both the 200 freestyle (2:14.77) and 100 backstroke (1:14.37) events, while Hathaway handled the 200 individual medley (2:36.08) and 500 freestyle (6:00.69). Bader beat the field in the sprints, winning the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle in 26.56 and 59.26 seconds respectively.

Dow’s time of 1:05.04 was good enough to win the 100 butterfly, and she also took the top spot in the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.89.

A time of 1:58.96 seconds gave Kunkler, Hathaway, Bader and Dow a win in the 200 medley relay at the beginning of the meet, and they also combined to grab a victory in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:50.92.