JCHS junior places 107th

GREENSBORO, North Carolina — For the third consecutive season, Anne Vormohr got a taste of what it will take to be an elite swimmer.
Vormohr, a Jay County High School junior, finished 107th in the 100-yard backstroke Friday morning in the 2014 AT&T USA Swimming Winter National Championships at Greensboro Aquatics Complex.
Her time of 57.47 seconds was seventh in her preliminary heat against some of the best high school and collegiate athletes in the country.
“It obviously wasn’t what I wanted or planned on going,” Vormohr said Friday evening in a phone interview. “I guess that’s an indication of how much I need to work to compete at state because all of the girls will be dropping time.”
Linnea Mack from San Jose, California, turned in the top preliminary time of 52.32 seconds. Mack, a sophomore at UCLA, holds Bruin records in both the 100 backstroke (52.59) and 50 freestyle (22.34). The top 24 swimmers advance to today’s championships.
Using a backstroke wedge for the first time because the touch pads were slippery, Vormohr had to get used to the new device in a hurry. Without much time to get the wedge in place, she had to ask an official for help.
When she began the race, she said she had flashbacks of the state finals from last season.
“As I pushed off the wall I could tell my legs cramped up immediately,” said Vormohr, who holds JCHS records in the 100 backstroke (56.12) and the 50 freestyle (24.35). “I knew coming back on the last 50 was going to be painful. I tried to go as hard as I usually do.
“It was just not my day.”

In 2013, Vormohr finished 63rd with a time of 56.65 in Knoxville, Tenn. Missy Franklin, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter backstroke, won the event that year.
The previous year in Austin, Texas, Vormohr was 52nd in 56.83 seconds.
Swimming against athletes of that caliber is intimidating, Vormohr said.
“It’s nerve racking swimming against college students,” she said, adding she likes to swim against someone she’s raced in the past. “I knew it would be, but I had a positive attitude.”
This year Vormohr was hoping to break 56 seconds, which is one tenth of a second faster than her career best 56.1.
Although she wasn’t able to reach her goal, she has plenty of things to take away from her effort in the pool.
“I need to work harder,” said Vormohr, who placed fifth at the IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals as a freshman to become the first JCHS girls swimmer to earn a state medal. “I need to change something up, but I don’t know what exactly that is. I work hard in practice, but maybe I need to push things harder.
“(It’s) the little things I need to work on.”