Patriots still unbeaten

Jay County’s girls swim team hasn’t lost a dual meet in almost two years.
The Delta Eagles were just another obstacle in the way of the Patriots’ goal of an undefeated season for the second consecutive year.
Jay County won all 11 swimming events Tuesday in a 197-108 clobbering of the visiting Eagles.
The Patriot boys team fell to Delta, 199-144.
“It was a good win over a pretty solid Delta team,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik, whose team moved to 7-0 on the season. “All the way across the board all of our relays swam great and our individual events swam great.”
Katy Smeltzer, Alex Bader, Anne Vormohr and Sophie Bader each won two individual races for the Patriots, who were also victorious in all three relay races.
Smeltzer finished with a time of 2 minutes, 16.93 seconds, to take first in the 200-yard freestyle, and won the 100 butterfly in 1:07.39. Alex Bader was first in both the 50 freestyle (25.81) and the 500 freestyle (5:43.81), and her sister Sophie earned first-place finishes in the 100 freestyle (55.3) and 100 backstroke (1:02.63).
Vormohr turned in a career-best 1:12 to win the 100 breaststroke, just 0.63 seconds ahead of Jamie Valentine, who also had a career-best in the event. Vormohr won the 200 individual medley as well in 2:16.54.
But it was the Patriots depth that aided the lopsided victory.
Ashley Mark finished third in both the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke, and Slavik said he is pleased with the way the junior has been performing so far this season.
“She’s swimming good. She’s swimming right where we need her to be,” he said. “The key to our team being as successful as what we hope it to be is our depth.
“Ashley fits in really nice. As we find a home in the events for her where she’s comfortable, I think she’s going to surprise a lot of people through the end of the year.”
Elizabeth McDowell was also third in the individual medley with a career-best time of 2:43.59. Sydney Mathias had a pair of third place finishes in the 50 and 100 freestyle. Abby Saxman and Valentine were fourth in the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly respectively.
Mathias, a sophomore, was competing in her last meet for the Patriots. She and her family are moving to Knox County, and she will continue her swimming career for the Lincoln Alices.
“She’s going to be moving on to a (Lincoln) team that is extremely lucky to have her,” Slavik said of Mathias, who was also a part of the winning 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams Tuesday.
The Patriot boys team (3-3) saw a stark contrast from its meet the previous night against South Adams. It got a career-best diving performance from Christian Phillips (183.6 points) to begin the night on Tuesday, but only won three more races in a lopsided loss.
Senior Cody White cut two seconds off his career-best time in the individual medley, winning the race in 2:15.79. White trailed Delta’s Josh Minch by nearly full body length through the butterfly and backstroke legs, but caught up during the breaststroke leg and then passed him during the final 50 yards of freestyle.
James Keen won the 100 backstroke in 55.88 seconds after suffering his first individual loss of the season. Andrew Torres won the 100 butterfly in 55.15 seconds, eight hundredths of a second ahead of Keen.
“It was frustrating that I lost, but it was bound to happen sooner or later,” Keen said of his first defeat. “I want to learn from that loss and hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Keen redeemed himself in the 400 freestyle, as he and his team of Sok Vormohr, Christopher McDowell and White had to come from behind in back-to-back meets and third time this season.
Much like Vormohr did the previous night against South Adams, Keen erased a deficit even he didn’t think he could overcome.
“Honestly, I didn’t think we had a chance,” the senior said. “We’ve been (coming from behind) a lot this year.
“I feel like that’s how our 400 relay is going to be for the majority of this year.”
Delta’s team of Minch, Jared Hunt, Chandler Tucker and Cody Anacker were ahead of the Patriots by more than a body length heading into the final 100 yards.
Keen dived into the water with Anacker in his sights. He slowly caught up through the first 75 yards, and sprinted the final 25 yards to touch the wall at the end of his stroke just 0.18 seconds ahead of Anacker.
“I’m never going to worry about if he’s going to give it everything he’s got in a close race,” Weaver said of Keen. “That was another great swim.”