Patriot tankers first at invite

CONNERSVILLE — The Jay County High School girls swim team won its first invitational of the season Saturday.
The Patriots scored 349 points to win the Connersville Invitational. The host Spartans were second with 250 points, and Centerville was third with 200.
Jay County’s boys team scored 286 points to finish second. Connersville (409) won the invite, and New Castle (154) placed third.
Alex Bader, Anne Vormohr and Sophie Bader all won two events for the Patriots.
Alex won the 200-yard freestyle in 2 minutes, 2.2 seconds, and finished with a time of 1:12.15 to win the 100 breaststroke, and her sister Sophie was first in the 200 individual medley (2:13.9) and the 100 butterfly (1:00.04). Vormohr, their cousin, picked up victories in the 100 freestyle (55.07) and 100 backstroke (1:01.47).
They also teamed up with Katy Smeltzer to win both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.
Senior James Keen was the lone dual winner for the Jay County boys. He was first in the 200 IM (2:07.26) and the 100 backstroke (56.62).
Earning top-three finishes for the Patriots were Ashley Mark (500 freestyle – second) and Smeltzer (50 freestyle – second) for the girls. For the JCHS boys, Cody White was second in the 500 freestyle and third in the 200 freestyle, Christian Phillips placed second in diving, Ian Bentz was third in the 100 breaststroke and Sok Vormohr finished third in both the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
The Patriot swimmers will have a couple of weeks off before returning to the pool Jan. 6 to host Liberty Christian and Elwood.