Miller scores sectional three-peat (02/09/04)

PORTLAND — Sarah Miller scored a three-peat for the second time in two weeks. But there are still bigger things on her mind.

Miller won her third consecutive sectional diving championship Saturday at Jay County with 417.85 points.

She finished nearly 70 points ahead of the field, with Allison Alford of Oak Hill second with 350.15 points, Jordan Lance of Marion third (349.75) and Kelly Whonstetler of Marion fourth (301.20). The top four divers advance to Tuesday’s Kokomo regional.

Miller was the lone victor for Jay County on the day as the Patriots finished seventh in the nine-team sectional with 108 points. South Adams was not able to send anyone on to the state meet, but still managed a third-place effort with 163 points.

“We didn’t have that much to spare point-wise,” said Jay County coach Bev Arnold, whose team slipped from the sixth-place slot it was positioned for after the preliminary round. “That’s the way it’s been all season.”

It was the Norwell Knights who dominated the meet as expected. They won by 140 points over Oak Hill by taking eight out of 12 sectional titles for a total of 334.50 points.

For Miller, the diving victory came two weeks after winning her third straight Olympic Athletic Conference diving title.

“I’m saving it for next week,” said Miller, who is hoping for a regional title Tuesday along with a trip to Saturday’s state meet. “Last year I blew it all on sectional and didn’t have anything left for state.

“But, it did feel good to win again.”

Miller went wild at last season’s sectional meet, crushing everyone en route to meet and pool records with a total of 474.25 points. But, after a 10th-place finish at the state meet during her sophomore season, she did not even make the final cut at the 2003 meet.

So, although her dives weren’t perfect at this year’s sectional, they were good enough to win. And Miller hopes her blockbuster day of diving is in store for the state stage.

The Patriot senior was solid in her first five dives, and excellent for her next four before slipping a bit at the end. She scored between 6.0 and 8.5 on dives six through nine, but failed to get a score higher than 6.5 on her final pair.

Miller said her voluntary dives were good, but the optionals could use some work.

“I’m going to work on them this week,” she said. “I can get them to be better. I just need to get some more height on my dives.”

“She did what she needed to do,” said Arnold. “She wanted to win, and she got that goal accomplished.

“I think she ought to shoot for winning regionals. I know she has a goal to be top eight at state, to get on the podium.”

April Heyerly highlighted the day for Norwell, winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:09.15. The junior broke the sectional record she set two days earlier, and snapped the pool record.

The previous pool record was 1:09.27, set in 1988 by Christine Simmons of Carmel.

Norwell swimmers Kymberly Cossairt and Kelli Gates added a pair of sectional titles. Cossairt was first in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly, and Gates took long-distance wins in the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle.

Katelynn Bigham added another Norwell victory in the 100-yard freestyle.

The Knights also won the 200- and 400-meter freestyle relay titles.

Other sectional titles went to Amanda Edington of Bluffton in the backstroke, Katelyn Emenhiser of Bellmont in the 200-yard individual medley and the Bellmont team of Michelle DeBolt, Chelsea Kuhnle, Jessie Heller and Katelyn Emenhiser in the 200-yard medley relay.

The winning individual or team in each event advances to Saturday’s state meet at the IU Natatorium at IUPUI Saturday at 2 p.m.

Rachel McKee was the only Patriot to reach an individual championship race as she took part in the finals of the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events.

She improved on her preliminary time in the shorter race, but still finished fifth in 27.25 seconds. She added nearly a second to her preliminary time in the 100 freestyle, also finishing fifth in 1:00.74.

McKee, Miller, Lindsey Vesperry and Julie Sours teamed for fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:51.79. Ashley Imel, Linsy Wilson, Vesperry and McKee were sixth in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 4:18.99.

South Adams had two second-place relay teams, but neither one was close to the victorious teams from Norwell.

The Starfire team of Haleigh Lehman, Robyn Habegger, Ashley Gresla and Chelsea Yoder was second in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:51.79, more than six seconds behind the Knights. Lehman, Chelsea Yoder, Margaret Beymer and Talitha Maven were nearly 10 seconds behind Norwell in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:08.42.

Maven, Habegger, Channing Yoder and Whitney Liechty were fifth in the 200-yard medley relay in 2:10.66.

Lehman was the top individual for South Adams, placing third in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:06.57. She was also fifth in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:10.89.

Other individuals to place in the top six for the Starfires were Channing Yoder (sixth - 200-yard individual medley), and Habegger (sixth - 100-yard backstroke).[[In-content Ad]]