Patriot tankers take down Bulldogs

Two days. Four total victories.

And the boys are at .500 for the first time this season.

Jay County High School’s boys and girls swim teams both defeated the Celina Bulldogs on Thursday, a day after sweeping Bellmont.

The Patriot boys (4-4) grabbed a 182-87 win against Celina, while the girls picked up a 139-111 victory.

Chase McFarland, Kyle Sanders and Skyler Myers were all dual winners for the JCHS boys. McFarland was first in the 200-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke. Sanders had wins in the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle and Myers was the fastest sprinter as he beat the field in the 50 and 100 freestyle events.

Dorane Beiswanger, Tayler Smeltzer, Myers and McFarland teamed to win both the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.

Eliza Bader was the Patriot girls’ only double winner, doing so in the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly. Erica Hathaway (200 freestyle) and Ashlyn Dow (50 freestyle) each had individual victories.

Vivienne Kunkler, Dow, Hathaway and Bader teamed to take first in the 200 freestyle relay.

Freshmen fall in OT

The Jay County freshman boys basketball team dipped to 4-4 on the season Thursday with a 41-36 loss to the Anderson Indians.

The Patriots trailed after each of the first three quarters. They were behind 7-4 after one, 16-12 at half and 27-20 with one quarter to play. Jay County rallied with a 12-5 margin in the fourth quarter to force overtime, but got outscored 9-6 in the extra period.

Quinn Faulkner led Jay County with 16 points, including a 10-of-12 effort from the free-throw line. Adam Muhlenkamp was second with eight points and Darius Esparza’s six points were third on the team. Adrek Pogue and Gavin Myers tallied four and three points respectively.

Chiefs beat Eagles

The East Jay Middle School seventh and eighth grade boys basketball teams both beat West Jay on Thursday.

East Jay’s eighth graders won 52-15, and the seventh grade Chiefs won 24-20.

Bennett Weitzel led the EJMS eighth graders (9-1, 5-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) with nine points, and Josh Dowlen was second with eight points. Owen Ransom and Dawson Hundley chipped in seven points each, while Patrick Hemmelgarn and Alan Dues both finished with four points.

Jaydence Brannon was West Jay’s leading scorer with five points. Liam Garringer followed with four while Peyton James, Parker Nichols and Peyton Bennett scored two points each.

Sam Myers scored six points to lead the seventh grade Chiefs (6-4, 3-2 ACAC). Zach McAbee totaled five points, Abraham Dirksen had four and Justin DeHoff scored three points.

West Jay’s Jackson Edwards led all players with 11 points, and Garringer contributed nine points. Ryan Cross tossed in four points.