July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Bellmont bests ailing Patriots (01/06/06)
JCHS swimming
Bellmont bests ailing Patriots (01/06/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
DECATUR — Ravaged by injuries and illnesses, the Jay County swimmers put up a good effort Thursday night. It just wasn’t quite enough to topple the home team.
The Patriot girls, despite missing five athletes, stayed close, but fell to a 105-81 defeat against Bellmont. The boys team, which has been down a pair of seniors all season and was missing three more swimmers against the Braves, lost 113-71.
“It went about as expected tonight because we have some injuries that we’re dealing with ... and some temporary sicknesses that we had to deal with,” said JCHS girls coach Bev Arnold, who got two wins from freshman Cori Vormohr and one apiece by Lindsey Vesperry and Ashley Horn. “Some of the places just snowballed.
“Again we’re knocking on the door. I was really, really pleased tonight with as many people out that we did as well as we did.”
During their break from action for the holidays — the team’s last meet was Dec. 17 at Connersville — Arnold’s squad lost Ivy Simons and Samantha DeWitt for the season with back and shoulder injuries respectively. Andrea Collins, Carissa Wilkins and Keisha Gerber all were out of action Thursday because of illnesses.
The boys team has been missing seniors Joseph Vormohr and Josh Hawn all season, but they are expected to return to action within the next two weeks. It also battled Bellmont without the services of Josh Shatto, Shan Willoughby and Thomas McCowan because of injuries and illnesses.
Still, JCHS coach Barry Weaver said those who were able to swim showed plenty of progress.
“The two-and-a-half weeks of time without a meet really paid some big dividends,” Weaver said. “The ones that really spent the time and got some work done over vacation, it’s really paying off. Hopefully we’re just going to take that and build on it.”
Among those seeing progress were the two double winners for the boys team, Tom McCord and Scott Walker.
McCord has been the Patriots’ top scorer all season, and the meet against Bellmont was no different. He built a big lead in the backstroke and butterfly portions of the 200-yard individual medley and went on a win by more than eight seconds in 2-minutes, 28.11 seconds. He also controlled the 100 backstroke for a victory in 1:03.76.
Walker was in battles in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events, sitting just slightly behind the leader at the final turn of each race. But he used what is becoming a trademark kick in the final 25 yards to win the 200 by less than a second in 2:08.84 and the 500 by less than two in 5:53.24.
They each posted a pair of personal-best times, with Walker knocking 13 seconds off his previous best in the 500.
Vormohr, who holds school records in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly, controlled each of those races against the Squaws with times of 2:24.77 and 1:03.88 respectively.
“(McCord’s) backstroke is really smoothing out,” said Weaver. “We tweaked a couple of little things as far as technique goes, and I really think he can get under a minute this year if he turns it on and just gets a little better conditioning before sectional time.
“When you’re in a race like that, some people can block out the pain and just go with whatever is left,” he added discussing Walker’s wins. “Other people find it difficult ... He and Eric Feeney both in the 500 and 200 just love to come down to that last turn and be close to their opponent because they feel like they can win that race.”
Horn also had a great distance day for the girls team, ripping seven seconds off her personal best in the 500 freestyle for a win in 6:36.68. She added another best time in the 200 freestyle.
Arnold said she told Horn about Bellmont’s Holly Lefler, who generally swims the 500 in 6:43, which also happened to be the junior’s career-best time
“She’s a go-getter,” said Arnold. “Mentally she gets ready, and she wanted to beat that girl.
“Overall I was glad that there were a lot of personal bests because they worked hard over the Christmas break.”
Vesperry posted a season-best as she fought off Bellmont freshman Jamie Basham to win the 50 freestyle with a time of 27.39.
The team of Vormohr, Vesperry, Amber Kelly and Briann Saxman teamed for a season-best time of 1:55.75 in winning the 200 freestyle relay, and the same group added a win in the 400 freestyle relay in 4:26.45.
Min Guen Cho posted the other win for the Jay County boys team, which marked the first of his career. He dominated the 100 breaststroke, winning by more than six seconds in 1:11.92.
“Cho did an outstanding job,” said Weaver. “He really looked like when he hit the water he took off. In the breaststroke ... he went out hard. He was really wanting to go after it. I think he saw, ‘Hey, I have a race and I can go win this thing,’ and he did.”
Bellmont’s boys came away with victories in all three relays.[[In-content Ad]]
The Patriot girls, despite missing five athletes, stayed close, but fell to a 105-81 defeat against Bellmont. The boys team, which has been down a pair of seniors all season and was missing three more swimmers against the Braves, lost 113-71.
“It went about as expected tonight because we have some injuries that we’re dealing with ... and some temporary sicknesses that we had to deal with,” said JCHS girls coach Bev Arnold, who got two wins from freshman Cori Vormohr and one apiece by Lindsey Vesperry and Ashley Horn. “Some of the places just snowballed.
“Again we’re knocking on the door. I was really, really pleased tonight with as many people out that we did as well as we did.”
During their break from action for the holidays — the team’s last meet was Dec. 17 at Connersville — Arnold’s squad lost Ivy Simons and Samantha DeWitt for the season with back and shoulder injuries respectively. Andrea Collins, Carissa Wilkins and Keisha Gerber all were out of action Thursday because of illnesses.
The boys team has been missing seniors Joseph Vormohr and Josh Hawn all season, but they are expected to return to action within the next two weeks. It also battled Bellmont without the services of Josh Shatto, Shan Willoughby and Thomas McCowan because of injuries and illnesses.
Still, JCHS coach Barry Weaver said those who were able to swim showed plenty of progress.
“The two-and-a-half weeks of time without a meet really paid some big dividends,” Weaver said. “The ones that really spent the time and got some work done over vacation, it’s really paying off. Hopefully we’re just going to take that and build on it.”
Among those seeing progress were the two double winners for the boys team, Tom McCord and Scott Walker.
McCord has been the Patriots’ top scorer all season, and the meet against Bellmont was no different. He built a big lead in the backstroke and butterfly portions of the 200-yard individual medley and went on a win by more than eight seconds in 2-minutes, 28.11 seconds. He also controlled the 100 backstroke for a victory in 1:03.76.
Walker was in battles in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events, sitting just slightly behind the leader at the final turn of each race. But he used what is becoming a trademark kick in the final 25 yards to win the 200 by less than a second in 2:08.84 and the 500 by less than two in 5:53.24.
They each posted a pair of personal-best times, with Walker knocking 13 seconds off his previous best in the 500.
Vormohr, who holds school records in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly, controlled each of those races against the Squaws with times of 2:24.77 and 1:03.88 respectively.
“(McCord’s) backstroke is really smoothing out,” said Weaver. “We tweaked a couple of little things as far as technique goes, and I really think he can get under a minute this year if he turns it on and just gets a little better conditioning before sectional time.
“When you’re in a race like that, some people can block out the pain and just go with whatever is left,” he added discussing Walker’s wins. “Other people find it difficult ... He and Eric Feeney both in the 500 and 200 just love to come down to that last turn and be close to their opponent because they feel like they can win that race.”
Horn also had a great distance day for the girls team, ripping seven seconds off her personal best in the 500 freestyle for a win in 6:36.68. She added another best time in the 200 freestyle.
Arnold said she told Horn about Bellmont’s Holly Lefler, who generally swims the 500 in 6:43, which also happened to be the junior’s career-best time
“She’s a go-getter,” said Arnold. “Mentally she gets ready, and she wanted to beat that girl.
“Overall I was glad that there were a lot of personal bests because they worked hard over the Christmas break.”
Vesperry posted a season-best as she fought off Bellmont freshman Jamie Basham to win the 50 freestyle with a time of 27.39.
The team of Vormohr, Vesperry, Amber Kelly and Briann Saxman teamed for a season-best time of 1:55.75 in winning the 200 freestyle relay, and the same group added a win in the 400 freestyle relay in 4:26.45.
Min Guen Cho posted the other win for the Jay County boys team, which marked the first of his career. He dominated the 100 breaststroke, winning by more than six seconds in 1:11.92.
“Cho did an outstanding job,” said Weaver. “He really looked like when he hit the water he took off. In the breaststroke ... he went out hard. He was really wanting to go after it. I think he saw, ‘Hey, I have a race and I can go win this thing,’ and he did.”
Bellmont’s boys came away with victories in all three relays.[[In-content Ad]]
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