Jay Co. stomps Tigers (01/09/08)

There isn't much excitement to be had in a meet when both the boys and girls competitions are decided by more than 100 points. But Sam Miller did what he could to rile up the crowd.

Miller capped the evening with not only a career-best relay split, but also the third-best time in JCHS history for a 100-yard freestyle. He rallied the Patriots from a huge deficit in the 400 freestyle relay to win the event and cap a 207-82 team victory over the visiting Hagerstown Tigers.

Cori Vormohr and Michelle Landfair joined Miller as double event winners as they led the girls team to a resounding 214-94 win over Hagerstown.

"I was just really pleased that we came out and swam (hard) tonight," said JCHS girls coach Bev Arnold. "Last Thursday I felt like we were really, really sluggish."

Arnold said the turn-around is especially encouraging heading into Saturday's Olympic Athletic Conference meet, for which the Patriots will be the hosts.

While both teams were in control all night long, no effort was better than Miller's final foray into the pool.

Jay County trailed throughout the final race of the night with its deficit ballooning to about 4.5 seconds when Miller dived in for the final leg. He was undeterred.

The junior made up the deficit in his first 75 yard, sealed the win for he and teammates Cody Bullard, Derik Lucas and Richard Osterholt by more than three tenths of a second in 3-minutes, 52.06 seconds and shattered his own best mark for 100 yards with a split of 48.49.

"Amazing," said Patriot boys coach Barry Weaver. "I thought tonight after swimming the 500 he wouldn't have much left, but we've had three-and-a-half good weeks of practice ...

"That was an outstanding swim. ... It was just a super swim. He didn't stop at 49, just went straight to 48-plus."

Miller's previous best time for 100 yards was 50.07, and he became the first JCHS athlete to break the 50-second barrier since 1993. He joins Bill Bryant, Bob Morrison, Jason Arnold and Chuck Aker as the only swimmers in school history to accomplish the feat.

Miller's individual victories came in the longest races of the evening as he won the 500 freestyle in 5:12.46 seconds with teammate Tom McCord second. He took the 200 freestyle in 1:55.51.

Vormohr won her specialty events in leading the girls team while Landfair switched from the sprints to the distance.

Vormohr dominated both the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke in times of 1:03.83 and 1:13.22 respectively. Elaine Hemmelgarn made the breaststroke a one-two finish in 1:22.62, and Briann Saxman took second in the butterfly at 1:19.48.

Saxman was also first in the 200 individual medley in 2:45.68. She was trailed by three career-best times from Kelci Reed in third place, Stephanie Skiver in fourth and Ashley Burress in sixth.

"The IM group helped us out tonight," said Arnold, "and for however many meets in a row Elaine Hemmelgarn had a personal-best in the breaststroke. She just keeps chipping away every, every meet."

Landfair and Aly Miller traded specialty events, with Landfair winning the 200 and 500 freestyle in career-best times of 2:21.62 and 6:22.77 respectively. Aly Miller was a close second in both the 50 and 100 freestyle.

"I mixed up a little bit tonight for the purpose of seeing what some of the kids could do in other events time wise," said Arnold. "Aly Miller had a really nice 50 free. Michelle Landfair stepped right up and did a nice job in the 200 and 500 (freestyle)."

Chance Milligan led a sweep for the boys team in the 100 breaststroke, finishing in 1:18.18 ahead of McCord and Thomas Bowen. Aaron Hudson was first in the 50 freestyle at 24.47.

JCHS's other two individual victories were uncontested, with Donny McCowan scoring 175 points in diving and Neal Fennig posting a time of 1:12.07 in the 100 butterfly.

Hudson and Fennig teamed with Nathan Cain and Steven Kelly to win the 200 medley relay at 1:59.88.

"We mixed up a lot of things tonight, had people in events we don't ordinarily swim, and ... somewhere along the line the fuse got lit and it kind of snowballed. A lot of people had a lot of very good swims. ... It just kind of caught on.

"Nathaniel Imel, his times are not the tops on our team, but his times just keep getting better. He had four personal bests tonight. He's excited.

"Jared Valentine ... two out of (his three swims) were personal bests. Those are the things we want the kids to look at."

Joining Landfair and Vormohr to lead the Patriot girls was the diving quartet of April Acker, Nadlie Runyon, Megan Taylor and Tricia Skiver. They swept the opening event of the night, with Acker falling just short of breaking the 200-point barrier with a career-best score of 195.95.

Runyon was second at 169.1, followed by Taylor (151.05) and Skiver (145.25).

"The divers started us out fantastically," said Arnold. "They all were within just a point or so of their career best if they didn't have a career best. ... The meet started out well."

Ivy Simons added a victory in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:17.13, and teamed with Hemmelgarn, Maddie Fennig and Caitlin Ruchgy in the first of the Patriots' three relay victories. The team posted a time of 2:21.90 to win the 200 medley relay.

Landfair, Vormohr, Aly Miller and Saxman teamed to take the other two relays, winning the 200 freestyle at 1:56.09 and the 400 freestyle in 4:20.94.[[In-content Ad]]