Jay beats Anderson

Eight was the magic number for the Patriot swim teams Thursday night.
The Jay County High School boys and girls swim teams each won eight of the 11 swimming events as they both picked up a victory over the visiting Anderson Indians.
Jay County’s girls won 196-111, and the boys earned their first win of the season, 171-141.
“I was thinking it was probably going to be within 15 points one way or the other,” said JCHS boys coach Barry Weaver. “Overall the kids did a really nice job hanging in there.
“We won our share of events which is a plus. We lost a couple close races. But the good thing is we were in those races, which is not always the case, especially in the first few meets of the year.”
The 500-yard freestyle was one of those closely contested races for Weaver’s squad. Senior Cody White trailed Anderson’s Wil Lashbrook by nearly three seconds after 350 yards, but turned it up in the final 150 to make things interesting.
“I thought I was going to do really (well) tonight,” said White, who sprinted the final 25 yards, touching the wall in 5 minutes. 35.93 seconds, a mere 0.27 seconds behind Lashbrook. “I did catch up to him a little bit. I’m not too disappointed with the time. I’m a little disappointed in myself with my stroke.”
Weaver said White’s knack for turning it up in the latter part of races is something he’s done throughout his career.
“Ever since Cody started swimming as a freshman he has come back strong,” said Weaver, whose team moves to 1-1 on the season. “The second half is usually his better half of most races. I knew there was going to be a race at the end.
“A 5:35 this time of year is better than he’s done any of the other three years.”
The other highly contested race for the Jay boys was the 100 butterfly, in which Anderson’s Hamilton Smith edged Sok Vormohr by four tenths of a second. After a slow start, the Patriot junior gave it his all in the final 25 yards, finishing with a time of 59.25 seconds.
“(That’s) another one of those close ones that got away,” Weaver said. “Sok’s time is already under a minute. I’m feeling good about where he’s at as compared to where he finished last year.”
White and Vorhmor picked victories for the Patriots in the 200 freestyle and 50 freestyle respectively. Vormohr beat Anderson’s Noah Bozell by just more than a half-second. White was second at the midway point of his race, and used a good turn at the 125-yard mark to take a lead he later extended nearly two seconds.
James Keen was the lone double winner for the Jay County boys, earning victories in the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke. Conner Daniels, who has been battling a shoulder ailment, took first in the 100 freestyle.
Sisters Alex and Sophie Bader both won a pair of events for the girls squad that improved to 3-0 in dual meets.
Sophie Bader turned in a career-best in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.55) and also won the 100 freestyle (55.39). Alex, a freshman who set a new school record in the 100 breaststroke in the season-opening meet at Westfield, was victorious in both the 200 freestyle (2:02.98) and 100 backstroke (1:05.77).
“Alex is just naturally gifted when it comes to swimming,” said JCHS girls coach Matt Slavik, whose team has won 17 straight dual meets dating back to the 2012 season. “She works really hard … she’s seen fast swimmers before but her training has changed. She’s been forced to go faster. She’s rolling out some times that I personally would not have expected at this point in the season.”
Katy Smeltzer won the 50 freestyle (27.63) and finished second in the 500 freestyle. She swam the freestyle leg of the winning 200 medley relay with Sydney Mathias, Jamie Valentine and Sophie Bader, then teamed up with Mathias and the Bader sisters to win the 200 freestyle relay.
In the closest race of the night, Alex Bader, Laurann Schoenlein, Jamie Valentine and Ashley Mark combined to win the 400 freestyle relay 4:15.71, nine hundredths of a second faster than Anderson.
“Ashley Mark did an outstanding job holding on,” Slavik said of the sophomore, who fought off a surging Alexa Bramwell in the final 50 yards. “What I really liked about it is she raced. She didn’t give up, she went out and raced and showed a lot of heart.
“Right now we’re undefeated as far as relays go. If we can start off with a good medley relay, it is key to setting the tone for the rest of the night. A lot of these girls work hard and there are (still) great things to come.”
Jay County’s boys also won all three relays.
Samantha Link won the diving event for the JCHS girls with 146.2 points. Heather Stinson and Lou Moser were second and third, as Anderson didn’t have any female divers. Christian Phillips (159.5) was second for the boys, behind Anderson’s Bryant Swinford (178.2).