February 10, 2020 at 6:22 p.m.
Patriots leave no doubt in blowout
Patriots leave no doubt in blowout
Eliza Bader swam out to a one-second lead on the first leg of the first race.
By the time Ashlyn Dow was done with the second leg, the advantage was nearly five seconds.
The blowout was on, in the race and the meet.
Host Jay County dominated the opening relay and never slowed down Saturday, winning seven races en route to scoring 416 points for a third consecutive girls swimming sectional title.
“Three in a row. Holy smokes,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik. “I don’t even know how to describe it.
“From the get-go when our medley relay came out and I saw what they did … I had the same feeling our first sectional … They just set the bar high and it just kept up all day long.
“It was a great day.”
The championship was the fifth in six seasons for the Patriots, with the lone blip in that stretch coming when they lost to South Adams by 18 points in 2017. They rolled past runner-up Norwell (293) on Saturday, with the 123 points marking their largest margin of victory in a sectional surpassing 107 points in the 2015-16 season.
“It feels great,” said JCHS senior Erica Hathaway. “I love these girls. They work so hard every single day in practice. They really just deserve to go out and win.”
The winner of each swimming event advances to next week’s state finals with preliminaries at 6 p.m. Friday at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis. And the top four divers move on the Tuesday’s regional at Fort Wayne South Side.
It was a sign of things to come.
Dow, a junior, left no doubt in either of her individual events, swimming out to early advantages and never allowing anyone an opportunity to catch her. She went one-two-with teammate Mara Bader as she won the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.06, and posted a 2.3-second victory over Bluffton’s Lauren Reiff in the 100 freestyle.
Eliza Bader, also a junior, was strong in her pair of wins as well as she swam out front with some familiar company. She first won the 50 freestyle in 24.86 with Union City’s Elly O’Connor (26.19), who trains with the Patriots, second and fellow Patriot Lilli Clemmons (26.4) third. She added a first-place effort in the 100 butterfly in 58.74 ahead of Huntington North’s Alexandria Schliman.
Winchester’s Ella Baldwin, who also trains at JCHS, Patriot junior Rieley Brewster and O’Connor were third through fifth.
With Jay County’s junior leaders winning by comfortable margins, it was left to freshman Mara Bader to provide the excitement.
After dancing along the pool deck to Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up,” she found herself tied for fourth place midway through the 200 individual medley.
The deficit was 2.53 seconds.
She erased all but 0.2 seconds on the breaststroke leg and then swam the final 50 yards side-by-side with Delta’s Hayden Armstrong. She appeared to be slightly behind until the final stroke, beating Armstrong to the wall by just 0.07 seconds for the win in 2:21.25
“I know after the backstroke I always have to make it up because backstroke is definitely my worst stroke and breaststroke is my best,” said Mara Bader. “I’ve just got to pick it up from there …
“It was very exciting. At the beginning of the season I didn’t think I would make it this far, comparing my times with everyone else. I didn’t think I would be here today.”
Erica Hathaway, Dow and the Baders took care of the other Patriot victory, posting a time of 1:42.47 take the 200 freestyle relay by more than five seconds.
JCHS nearly made it a relay sweep as Elayna Paro, Hathaway, Clemmons and Brewster sliced almost seven seconds off of their preliminary time from less than 24 hours earlier, finishing in the No. 2 spot behind Norwell by just over a second.
Hathaway was the runner-up in the 200 freestyle and placed third in the 500 freestyle with Paro right behind her in fourth as she broke the 6-minute mark for the first time.
Rachel Louck qualified for the diving regional with a fourth-place finish with 220.4 points, barely edging fifth-place teammate Mikale Knight (219.75). Brewster climbed three spots from her No. 7 seed to take fourth in the 100 backstroke with Clemmons right behind her in fifth. And twins Emma James (seventh – 100 breaststroke) and Hannah James (eighth – 200 freestyle) also posted top-eight efforts.
Scoring for the Patriots in consolation events were Paro (10th – 200 individual medley), Hannah James (10th – 100 freestyle) and Emily Dues (11th – 100 backstroke, 12th – 100 freestyle).
By the time Ashlyn Dow was done with the second leg, the advantage was nearly five seconds.
The blowout was on, in the race and the meet.
Host Jay County dominated the opening relay and never slowed down Saturday, winning seven races en route to scoring 416 points for a third consecutive girls swimming sectional title.
“Three in a row. Holy smokes,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik. “I don’t even know how to describe it.
“From the get-go when our medley relay came out and I saw what they did … I had the same feeling our first sectional … They just set the bar high and it just kept up all day long.
“It was a great day.”
The championship was the fifth in six seasons for the Patriots, with the lone blip in that stretch coming when they lost to South Adams by 18 points in 2017. They rolled past runner-up Norwell (293) on Saturday, with the 123 points marking their largest margin of victory in a sectional surpassing 107 points in the 2015-16 season.
“It feels great,” said JCHS senior Erica Hathaway. “I love these girls. They work so hard every single day in practice. They really just deserve to go out and win.”
The winner of each swimming event advances to next week’s state finals with preliminaries at 6 p.m. Friday at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis. And the top four divers move on the Tuesday’s regional at Fort Wayne South Side.
Dow and Eliza Bader opened the big lead Saturday in the 200-yard medley relay, and Rieley Brewster and Mara Bader did nothing but extend it as the Patriot quartet posted a time of 1:51.36 to win by nearly eight seconds over Norwell.
It was a sign of things to come.
Dow, a junior, left no doubt in either of her individual events, swimming out to early advantages and never allowing anyone an opportunity to catch her. She went one-two-with teammate Mara Bader as she won the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.06, and posted a 2.3-second victory over Bluffton’s Lauren Reiff in the 100 freestyle.
Eliza Bader, also a junior, was strong in her pair of wins as well as she swam out front with some familiar company. She first won the 50 freestyle in 24.86 with Union City’s Elly O’Connor (26.19), who trains with the Patriots, second and fellow Patriot Lilli Clemmons (26.4) third. She added a first-place effort in the 100 butterfly in 58.74 ahead of Huntington North’s Alexandria Schliman.
Winchester’s Ella Baldwin, who also trains at JCHS, Patriot junior Rieley Brewster and O’Connor were third through fifth.
With Jay County’s junior leaders winning by comfortable margins, it was left to freshman Mara Bader to provide the excitement.
After dancing along the pool deck to Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up,” she found herself tied for fourth place midway through the 200 individual medley.
The deficit was 2.53 seconds.
She erased all but 0.2 seconds on the breaststroke leg and then swam the final 50 yards side-by-side with Delta’s Hayden Armstrong. She appeared to be slightly behind until the final stroke, beating Armstrong to the wall by just 0.07 seconds for the win in 2:21.25
“I know after the backstroke I always have to make it up because backstroke is definitely my worst stroke and breaststroke is my best,” said Mara Bader. “I’ve just got to pick it up from there …
“It was very exciting. At the beginning of the season I didn’t think I would make it this far, comparing my times with everyone else. I didn’t think I would be here today.”
Erica Hathaway, Dow and the Baders took care of the other Patriot victory, posting a time of 1:42.47 take the 200 freestyle relay by more than five seconds.
JCHS nearly made it a relay sweep as Elayna Paro, Hathaway, Clemmons and Brewster sliced almost seven seconds off of their preliminary time from less than 24 hours earlier, finishing in the No. 2 spot behind Norwell by just over a second.
Hathaway was the runner-up in the 200 freestyle and placed third in the 500 freestyle with Paro right behind her in fourth as she broke the 6-minute mark for the first time.
Rachel Louck qualified for the diving regional with a fourth-place finish with 220.4 points, barely edging fifth-place teammate Mikale Knight (219.75). Brewster climbed three spots from her No. 7 seed to take fourth in the 100 backstroke with Clemmons right behind her in fifth. And twins Emma James (seventh – 100 breaststroke) and Hannah James (eighth – 200 freestyle) also posted top-eight efforts.
Scoring for the Patriots in consolation events were Paro (10th – 200 individual medley), Hannah James (10th – 100 freestyle) and Emily Dues (11th – 100 backstroke, 12th – 100 freestyle).
Dow and Eliza Bader opened the big lead Saturday in the 200-yard medley relay, and Rieley Brewster and Mara Bader did nothing but extend it as the Patriot quartet posted a time of 1:51.36 to win by nearly eight seconds over Norwell.It was a sign of things to come.
Dow, a junior, left no doubt in either of her individual events, swimming out to early advantages and never allowing anyone an opportunity to catch her. She went one-two-with teammate Mara Bader as she won the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.06, and posted a 2.3-second victory over Bluffton’s Lauren Reiff in the 100 freestyle.
Eliza Bader, also a junior, was strong in her pair of wins as well as she swam out front with some familiar company. She first won the 50 freestyle in 24.86 with Union City’s Elly O’Connor (26.19), who trains with the Patriots, second and fellow Patriot Lilli Clemmons (26.4) third. She added a first-place effort in the 100 butterfly in 58.74 ahead of Huntington North’s Alexandria Schliman.
Winchester’s Ella Baldwin, who also trains at JCHS, Patriot junior Rieley Brewster and O’Connor were third through fifth.
With Jay County’s junior leaders winning by comfortable margins, it was left to freshman Mara Bader to provide the excitement.
After dancing along the pool deck to Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up,” she found herself tied for fourth place midway through the 200 individual medley.
The deficit was 2.53 seconds.
She erased all but 0.2 seconds on the breaststroke leg and then swam the final 50 yards side-by-side with Delta’s Hayden Armstrong. She appeared to be slightly behind until the final stroke, beating Armstrong to the wall by just 0.07 seconds for the win in 2:21.25
“I know after the backstroke I always have to make it up because backstroke is definitely my worst stroke and breaststroke is my best,” said Mara Bader. “I’ve just got to pick it up from there …
“It was very exciting. At the beginning of the season I didn’t think I would make it this far, comparing my times with everyone else. I didn’t think I would be here today.”
Erica Hathaway, Dow and the Baders took care of the other Patriot victory, posting a time of 1:42.47 take the 200 freestyle relay by more than five seconds.
JCHS nearly made it a relay sweep as Elayna Paro, Hathaway, Clemmons and Brewster sliced almost seven seconds off of their preliminary time from less than 24 hours earlier, finishing in the No. 2 spot behind Norwell by just over a second.
Hathaway was the runner-up in the 200 freestyle and placed third in the 500 freestyle with Paro right behind her in fourth as she broke the 6-minute mark for the first time.
Rachel Louck qualified for the diving regional with a fourth-place finish with 220.4 points, barely edging fifth-place teammate Mikale Knight (219.75). Brewster climbed three spots from her No. 7 seed to take fourth in the 100 backstroke with Clemmons right behind her in fifth. And twins Emma James (seventh – 100 breaststroke) and Hannah James (eighth – 200 freestyle) also posted top-eight efforts.
Scoring for the Patriots in consolation events were Paro (10th – 200 individual medley), Hannah James (10th – 100 freestyle) and Emily Dues (11th – 100 backstroke, 12th – 100 freestyle).
It was a sign of things to come.
Dow, a junior, left no doubt in either of her individual events, swimming out to early advantages and never allowing anyone an opportunity to catch her. She went one-two-with teammate Mara Bader as she won the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.06, and posted a 2.3-second victory over Bluffton’s Lauren Reiff in the 100 freestyle.
Eliza Bader, also a junior, was strong in her pair of wins as well as she swam out front with some familiar company. She first won the 50 freestyle in 24.86 with Union City’s Elly O’Connor (26.19), who trains with the Patriots, second and fellow Patriot Lilli Clemmons (26.4) third. She added a first-place effort in the 100 butterfly in 58.74 ahead of Huntington North’s Alexandria Schliman.
Winchester’s Ella Baldwin, who also trains at JCHS, Patriot junior Rieley Brewster and O’Connor were third through fifth.
With Jay County’s junior leaders winning by comfortable margins, it was left to freshman Mara Bader to provide the excitement.
After dancing along the pool deck to Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up,” she found herself tied for fourth place midway through the 200 individual medley.
The deficit was 2.53 seconds.
She erased all but 0.2 seconds on the breaststroke leg and then swam the final 50 yards side-by-side with Delta’s Hayden Armstrong. She appeared to be slightly behind until the final stroke, beating Armstrong to the wall by just 0.07 seconds for the win in 2:21.25
“I know after the backstroke I always have to make it up because backstroke is definitely my worst stroke and breaststroke is my best,” said Mara Bader. “I’ve just got to pick it up from there …
“It was very exciting. At the beginning of the season I didn’t think I would make it this far, comparing my times with everyone else. I didn’t think I would be here today.”
Erica Hathaway, Dow and the Baders took care of the other Patriot victory, posting a time of 1:42.47 take the 200 freestyle relay by more than five seconds.
JCHS nearly made it a relay sweep as Elayna Paro, Hathaway, Clemmons and Brewster sliced almost seven seconds off of their preliminary time from less than 24 hours earlier, finishing in the No. 2 spot behind Norwell by just over a second.
Hathaway was the runner-up in the 200 freestyle and placed third in the 500 freestyle with Paro right behind her in fourth as she broke the 6-minute mark for the first time.
Rachel Louck qualified for the diving regional with a fourth-place finish with 220.4 points, barely edging fifth-place teammate Mikale Knight (219.75). Brewster climbed three spots from her No. 7 seed to take fourth in the 100 backstroke with Clemmons right behind her in fifth. And twins Emma James (seventh – 100 breaststroke) and Hannah James (eighth – 200 freestyle) also posted top-eight efforts.
Scoring for the Patriots in consolation events were Paro (10th – 200 individual medley), Hannah James (10th – 100 freestyle) and Emily Dues (11th – 100 backstroke, 12th – 100 freestyle).
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
250 X 250 AD