Pats 3rd, 4th in OAC meet (01/26/04)

PORTLAND — Both Jay County Patriot teams swam well Saturday as they hosted the Olympic Athletic Conference meet. But this year even that was not enough to be in the running for a conference title.

The boys team finished third in the OAC meet with 214 points, and the girls were a relay disqualification away from doing the same as they placed fourth with 221 points.

“We swam very well,” said Jay County girls coach Bev Arnold. “We started off that medley relay and they dropped almost five seconds. I thought right there this was going to be a good day.

“We had 16 or 17 personal bests,” said Patriot boys coach Barry Weaver, “and all the relays were bests of the year. I felt like they did what they could do.”

Neither team could do much to keep up with Anderson Highland.

Led by Amanda Bennett and Tyler Shelton the Scots beat out Connersville to take first place in both competitions. Their boys team scored 334 points, and the girls team had 332 points.

Bennett and Shelton each picked up victories in the 200-yard freestyle. Bennett added a win in the 100-yard freestyle, and Shelton took first in the 500-yard freestyle.

The only other swimmer to win a pair of individual events on the day was Connersville’s Mike Rowland, who was first in the 50- and 100- yard freestyle.

The Patriots managed only one victory on the day, but it was a big one. And one that was relatively easy to predict.

For the third straight season senior Sarah Miller captured the OAC title in girls diving. She was the conference runner-up to teammate Dawn Ogden during her freshman year.

Miller started out her day on fire, racking up more than 200 points in her first five dives. She led the rest of the field by more than 55 points after that first round of dives and was never challenged.

Her day was highlighted by consistency as she scored 6s and 7s on almost every dive. Even though Highland’s Christina Wenner set a new Scots record with 349.75 points, Miller beat her by nearly 80 points with a total of 427.70

“If she has a goal that she really wants to go after she’s really focused,” said Arnold of Miller, who fell short of the conference record by just 15 points. “I think in the next couple of dual meets there is a record she wants to get.”

Miller has been chasing Ogden’s six-dive school record all season, and is also hoping to make an appearance high on the podium at this year’s state meet.

Arnold praised several other swimmers, especially pointing out Julie Sours’ effort in the breaststroke.

Sours had the second-best finish of the day for the girls team, taking second in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1-minute, 17.71 seconds.

Rachel McKee added third-place finishes in both the 50- and 100-free. Her time of 27.17 in the 50 was her best ever, and the 1:00.88 in the 100 was her second best.

She was the fifth seed in the 100, but surged ahead of Connersville’s Diana Richards and Brittney Godar to take third.

Freshman Amber Kelly was impressive in the 100-yard butterfly. She placed third in the event in 1:14.34, just edging teammate Ashley Imel.

The Jay County team of McKee, Sours, Kelly and Lindsey Vesperry was also third in the 200-yard medley relay.

“I think a highlight of the day has to be Julie Sours in the backstroke,” said Arnold. “That was a lifetime best for her. This is a good time for it to be happening.”

The boys team’s third place effort — it finished just six points ahead of Huntington North — was paced by Daniel Fisher and Derrick Lee.

Weaver said Fisher was disappointed after hoping for a conference title in the 100-yard breaststroke, but he still had the best time of his career. Fisher, who had been under 1:10 just once this season, finished the race in 1:08.37 to take second place.

Lee was seeded third heading into the meet, but was also able to turn in an outstanding time. He cut two seconds off his previous best mark to finish in second place in 1:02.96.

Fisher and Lee teamed with Adam Miller and Dave Johnston to finish the 200-yard medley relay in third place in 1:56.02. Lee, Johnston, Matt Peterson and Josh Hawn were also third in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:53.41.

Weaver pointed out several other positives, such as freshman Todd McCowan’s fourth-place result in diving. A first-year diver, he finished just 20 points out of second with a 247.60 total.

Joseph Vormohr knocked 10 seconds off his 200-yard individual medley time, and Scott Willoughby and Hawn had similar improvements in the 100-yard breaststroke and 500-yard freestyle respectively.

“There were a ton of those kinds of things,” said Weaver. “We talked about using this as a tune-up for sectional. I think they took that to heart and did a good job of getting motivated and swimming their best.”

“While second was the best we got we had several guys who moved up in the top six. Knowing the kind of year we’ve had and what we’ve lost I think the third place was real solid.”[[In-content Ad]]