Sisters battle in final meet together

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As they made the turn following the first 50 yards, Ashlyn Dow led her older sister Kaitlyn by more than two seconds.

Ashlyn, a sophomore and the Allen County Athletic Conference champion in the 100-yard breaststroke from Friday, was not swimming at her normal blistering pace.

Her strokes were slow and deliberate in lane 6.

Two lanes over, Kaitlyn, a senior, was giving it her all.

For the final 25 yards, each time the sisters were under the water they were looking at one another.

Smiling. Breathing. Pushing forward.

One using more effort than the other.

They touched the wall and looked at one another. Older sister had a familiar feeling.

She got beat.

The Dows had a time difference of less than a second, and while their race was close the meet itself was not as the Jay County High School girls and boys swim teams both defeated the Burris Owls on Tuesday in the final regular season home meet for Katilyn and six other seniors.

Jay County’s girls won 216-66 and the boys earned a 203-86 victory.

“You could at least let me have this last one, Ashlyn,” Kaitlyn said on the pool deck after racing her sister.

“I couldn’t go any slower,” Ashlyn replied, all the while smiling.

Nearly coming to a complete stop toward the end, Ashlyn finished in 1 minute, 33.44 seconds, nearly 24 seconds slower than her championship time from Friday. Kaitlyn touched the wall nine-hundredths of a second after her sister and almost three seconds faster than her career best.

“It was fun because she’s a really good breaststroker,” Kaitlyn said. “The whole time we were watching each other trying to tie … She ended up beating me but it was really fun.

“It just added a lot of fun to my last home meet and it was really cool to try to tie with my sister.”

Over the years, Katilyn learned to accept the fact Ashlyn, who also won the 50 freestyle (27.53 seconds) on Tuesday, surpassed her times. She admitted her pride took a hit at first, but watching younger sister succeed has been enjoyable.

“When I was younger it was harder but now that we’re both older we can just joke around about it,” Kaitlyn said. “It’s fun to laugh about it now.”

The fun Katilyn said she had Tuesday night was the same emotion coach Matt Slavik saw out of both of his teams, especially the girls who reclaimed the conference championship on Friday and won every event against Burris.

“For off events they had a pretty solid night,” he said. “They’re having fun. They’re relaxed. They’re swimming well.”

Eliza Bader joined Ashlyn Dow as a dual-event winner, taking the top spot in the 200 freestyle (2:13.54) and 100 freestyle (58.51) races.

Bader teamed with Vivienne Kunkler, Rieley Brewster and Kaitlyn Dow for a victory in the 200 medley relay in 2:04.14. Erica Hathaway, Hannah James, Brewster and Bader teamed to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:56.16, then Emily Dues, Lilli Clemmons, Elayna Paro and Kunkler won the 400 freestyle relay in 4:28.9.

Hathaway, Dues, Brewster, Kunkler and Clemmons accounted for the other five individual wins. Hathaway had a time of 2:36.43 to win the 200 individual medley, Dues won diving with 123.95 points, Brewster’s time of 1:11.47 was best in the 100 butterfly, Kunkler placed first in the 500 freestyle in 6:15.46 and Clemmons touched the wall in 1:09.05 to take the 100 backstroke.

“It’s been fun,” Slavik said. “It’s been a good year and they had a good night tonight.”

In the boys’ meet, Skyler Myers and Chase McFarland both picked up a pair of victories. Myers handled the sprint races, taking the 50 freestyle in 24.31 seconds and the 100 breaststroke in 55.6 seconds.

McFarland had a time of 1:05.72 to win the 100 butterfly and finished the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.19 for first.

Kyle Sanders (200 freestyle – 2:09.31), Konner Sommers (200 IM – 2:33.52) and Griffin Mann (500 freestyle – 6:05.44) each had individual wins as well.

Mitchell Brown, Dorane Beiswanger, Damian Hicks and Mann won the 200 medley relay in 1:59.66. The efforts of Tayler Smeltzer, McFarland, Beiswanger and Myers resulted in a time of 1:41.46 to win the 200 freestyle relay as Sanders, Smeltzer, McFarland and Myers won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:54.44.

“They’ve come a long way,” Slavik said of the boys squad. “Their work ethic has been tremendous.

“I can go on and name every single kid on the roster and have something good to say about them. They are grinding it out and it’s showing.”