Jay tops Jets (11/25/2008)

The Patriot upperclassmen are doing what they have always done. The help they're now getting from a host of freshmen will make them difficult to defeat.

Senior Cori Vormohr and freshman Mary Hudson each picked up double wins for the second straight meet to open the season Monday to lead the Jay County High School girls swim team to a 200.5-104.5 victory over the visiting Adams Central Flying Jets.

"I thought we had a good meet tonight," said Matt Slavik after his first home meet coaching the Patriots. "In a lot of off events the girls swam well. We had a lot of personal best times.

"Across the board we had good swims. A lot of girls were not so much in their comfort zones. That's important for me to see them go out and swim something they're not used to."

"Just in general we swam well. Everybody placed where I hoped they'd place or even better. The girls are coming along a lot further than I expected them to be at this point. So that's a bright spot."

Vormohr, who was a state qualifier in two events last season, again set the tone for the Patriots by winning both of her individual events and anchoring two relay victories.

She finished first by nearly five seconds in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.65. Her other victory came by about eight seconds in the 100 backstroke at 1:07.59.

Vormohr teamed with Aly Miller, Mary Hudson and Michelle Landfair for first in the meet-opening 200 medley relay in 2:02.66 and joined Aly Miller, Eme Miller and Landfair to take the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay in 2:04.14.

Hudson, who joined Vormohr and Eme Miller in picking up two wins Thursday at Elwood, led one-two finishes in each of her individual events. She took the 200 individual medley in 2:28.65 with senior Briann Saxman second and won the 100 butterfly at 1:09.04 with freshman Marissa Murrell as the runner-up.

Eme Miller, another freshman, picked up her win against Adams Central in style. She finished the 100 freestyle in 59.93, breaking in to the 50-second club in her first career attempt.

Other freshman finishing in the top five were Murrell (second - 100 butterfly), Katie Simmons (third - 100 breaststroke, fourth - 200 individual medley), Laura Bowen (fourth - 200 freestyle, fifth - 500 freestyle), Michaela Long (fourth - 100 butterfly) and Jocelyn Mann (fifth - 50 freestyle).

"Eme Miller broke a minute in the 100 freestyle, so that was a pretty big deal," said Slavik. " We had a lot of freshmen score tonight. ... I think that's probably not a typical thing in this sport. ...

"Eme and Mary have been phenomenol. They're coming out and winning their races. We've got a lot of girls coming in seconds and thirds and scoring some good back-up points. This freshman class is strong all the way across the board and its providing a big relief. It's taking some pressure off of the older girls."

One of the closest races of the night came in the 100 breaststroke.

Elaine Hemmelgarn and Wittney Landis were neck-and-neck throughout the race, but the JCHS sophomore's awareness paid off.

As the race came to a close Landis went for one extra stroke while Hemmelgarn stretched for the wall to eake out the victory by less than a half second in 1:20.38.

"Elaine does a good job of playing attention to the little things," said Slavick. "That's one of the ones right there, she stretched into the wall. I didn't think she was going to be able to out-touch her ... That was a big win for her right there.

"The little stuff is the easiest to change and it has the biggest effect on the races."

The other close race came within the Patriot team as senior Maddie Fennig and juniors Michelle Landfair and Caitlin Ruchgy battled in the 500 freestyle. They were in a dead heat for the first half of the race before Ruchgy opened a slight lead.

But the sprinter in Landfair came out in the final 50 meters as she surged for the win by just over a second in 6:31.95. Ruchgy was a close second, and Fennig was just one second behind her in third.

April Acker picked up the victory in diving with 142.85 points.

JCHS (2-0) dropped just two races in the night, falling in the 200 freestyle - Olivia Dynes got the win for Adams Central - and 200 freestyle relay.

Slavik said he is splitting up his top swimmers in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays early to get a better idea of what each girl is capable of.

"Right now we're six deep for the A relay, so I've been switching it up, just to see who's going to perform and see who wants to be there," he said. "We're just trying to figure out the best way to do it come the end of the year."[[In-content Ad]]