Four earn state trip

A year ago, Mary Hudson had to sit and wait, hoping her school-record time would be good enough to earn her one of the provisional spots in the state finals. On Saturday, Hudson and her teammates left nothing to question, punching their tickets for a trip to Indianapolis.
The Jay County junior dominated the field Saturday in the 100-yard breaststroke at the JCHS sectional, and she and teammates Eme Miller, Caitlin Mark and Charlotte Becot won the 200-yard freestyle relay as well to grab sectional titles and berths in the IHSAA Girls Swimming State Finals.
Megan Taylor also earned a trip to Tuesday’s diving regional at Fishers with a third-place sectional finish. The top four divers from each sectional move on to regional competition.
“It’s so much better not waiting this year,” said Hudson, the sectional runner-up last season, who broke her own school record in the breaststroke. “Basically I just went into that wanting to win so bad. I didn’t have not winning as an option.
“It felt amazing. I just looked back at the scoreboard and I thought it was wrong.”
Jay County scored 228 points to finish second in the sectional, from which the winner of each event earns a trip to the state finals, behind the Muncie Central Bearcats (320). Norwell was third with 215.
It was the fifth runner-up effort in school history for the Patriots, who were also second in 2009. They have never won a sectional title.
“Today turned out to be a fantastic event,” said JCHS coach Slavik. “The girls all swam great today. Most everyone moved up. And for those who didn’t move up, they held where they were seeded. It was a great day.
“Every single one of these girls did an outstanding job today.”
South Adams placed sixth out of nine teams with 119 points, but picked up a couple of highlights from Erika Waugh. The senior qualified for the state meet in two events for the second straight season, winning both the 500 freestyle and the 100 backstroke.
Hudson was the No. 2 seed in the breaststroke behind Norwell senior Danielle Thomas, who also edged Hudson for the sectional championship last season. But on Saturday, it was never close.
The junior blazed through the water, building a mammoth lead 50 meters into the race. And through the second half, no one ever made a run as Hudson won by nearly four seconds and broke her own school record and Thomas’ sectional and pool records in 1 minute, 8.4 seconds.
“As soon as she hit the first wall, I knew she was going,” said Slavik. “I told her all year, if she goes under 32 (seconds) in the first 50 … she’ll (finish) at a 1:08. She came out at a 31.7 …
“She was bouncing around all day long with pure adrenaline. … I think Mary shocked (Thomas) by getting out so quick on her. … It was just an outstanding swim.”
Although the margin of victory was not nearly as wide, the Patriots were also in control throughout their victory in the 200 freestyle relay.
It was Hudson who got Jay County off to a tremendous start, opening up a lead of nearly two seconds on the rest of the field. Miller kept the advantage at almost two seconds, and Mark and Becot fought off a charge by Muncie Central in the final 100 meters to win by 0.65 seconds in 1:44.67.
“We did so good,” said Becot, who became the first JCHS foreign exchange student to make the state finals. “I wanted to go to state so bad.”
“I had planned on trying to put everybody in the medley relay … and last minute I decided to switch Eme (Miller) out and put her in the short freestyle relay and the long freestyle relay,” said Slavik. “It was a gamble. It was a guess at what Muncie Central was going to do ... and it worked out well for us.”
It was also a move that hardly slowed down the 200 medley relay, as Mark stepped into Miller’s place and the team shattered the school record in earning a second-place finish. Brie McGhee, Becot, Hudson and Mark finished in 1:55.49 — they were about two seconds behind champion Muncie Central — to break the school record of 1:56.82 held by Cori Vormohr, Michelle Landfair, Hudson and Miller.
Taylor earned her trip to the diving regional with a strong finish. She sat in fourth place after the preliminary and semifinal rounds Saturday, but pushed ahead of Delta’s Kenna Gibson in her final three dives to claim third place with 273.75 points.
Freshman Rachel Vogler missed a regional berth by less than 11 points, placing fifth with 260.8.
“Megan struggled a little bit today, but she’s moving on to regionals,” said Slavik of the senior, who scored 311.75 points to place second last season. “She’s going in with a positive attitude ... There is no pressure on her shoulders ... so we’re excited to see how she does.”
Waugh’s two titles for the Starfires came without much of a challenge. The senior cruised to victory by more than three seconds in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.85, and won the 500 freestyle by more than 30 seconds in 5:24.2.
In addition to her sectional title, Hudson was third in the 100 butterfly in 1:02.86. Miller placed second in the 200 freestyle in 2:10 and fourth in the 500 freestyle at 6:01.9.
Becot was third in the 100 freestyle in 58.16 and fourth in the 50 freestyle in 26.59, and McGhee took third in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.41 and fifth in the 100 butterfly in 1:06.07.
Jocelyn Mann, Alyson Lucas, McGhee and Miller were sixth in the 400 freestyle relay in 4:09.96.
The only Starfire other than Waugh to finish in the top six was Kara DeLong, who was fourth in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.41 and sixth in the 200 individual medley in 2:35.67.
Competing in the consolation finals Saturday for JCHS were Mark (seventh – 200 IM, seventh – 100 free), Laura Bowen (ninth – 200 IM, 12th – 100 back), Elaine Hemmelgarn (ninth – 100 breast), Lucas (10th – 500 free) and Katie Simmons (11th – 500 free, 11th – 100 breast).
Also swimming in consolation races for South Adams were Michaela Rupp (seventh – 100 breast, 10th – 100 free) and Alex Fox (12th – 100 fly). Lauren Turner finished 11th in diving with 222 points, and the team placed fourth in the 200 medley relay, fourth in the 400 freestyle relay and eighth in the 200 freestyle relay.[[In-content Ad]]