Team effort crushes Elwood (11/18/05)

The Jay County swim team is as large as it has been in some time, boasting 29 members. Thursday’s victory couldn’t have been much more of a team effort.

The Patriots posted seven individual wins against the Elwood Panthers, each coming from a different swimmer, as they improved to 2-0 with a 124-58 victory. They also won all three relays, sweeping one and finishing one-two in another.

“I spread us out as much as I possibly could,” said JCHS coach Bev Arnold. “Overall I was very, very pleased with the way things turned out.”

Arnold used a different swimmer in each of the 27 individual event slots, getting as many different athletes into the lineup as possible. And, it paid off.

Two Patriots, juniors Andrea Collins and Ashley Horn, picked up their first wins of the season. Collins was in a near dead heat at the first turn, but pulled away from that point to win the 100-yard freestyle in 1-minute, 10.76 seconds. Horn cruised in the 500 freestyle, winning by more than 30 seconds as she finished in 7:08.07.

Senior Lindsey Vesperry and freshman Cori Vormohr, each of whom won a pair of events against Muncie Southside Tuesday, combined to take first place in the final two events versus Elwood. Vesperry dominated the field in the 100 backstroke, staying in control throughout as she finished in 1:19.08 for a win of more than eight seconds. Vormohr was never challenged in the 100 breaststroke, cruising by more than 14 seconds in 1:14.94.

Jay County’s other three wins came by wide margins as well.

Junior Amber Kelly dominated the 100 butterfly to lead one of two Patriot sweeps on the evening. She finished in 1:22.10, winning by nine seconds, with Kelci Reed second and Samantha DeWitt third.

Ivy Simons also led a one-two-three JCHS effort, finishing first by more than 15 seconds in the 200 freestyle in 2:31.10. Nikisha Imel was second, and Rachel Osterholt took third.

Briann Saxman won the 200 individual medley for the second consecutive meet, taking first by 11 seconds in 2:25.58.

“That’s cool. I kind of wanted to share the wealth,” said Arnold, adding that she hoped the well-distributed success would help build confidence. “That’s kind of what we were trying to do.

“Plus, I had the opportunity to get some times, a lot of different times, from some kids. Sometimes you find that hidden talent in an athlete that they don’t realize they have, they don’t think they have.”

Jay County also took all three relays, including what started as a very close race in the 200 freestyle. The Patriots trailed after the opening leg of that race, but Saxman took the advantage from Elwood and Collins and Vormohr pulled away for a win by more than 10 seconds in 1:59.21.

Kelly, Horn, Simons and Christa Castillo teamed to lead a sweep in the 400 freestyle relay in 4:55.88. Kelly, Reed, Vormohr and Vesperry took first in the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:16.27, leading a one-two Jay County finish.

“The strength of the team right now is their cohesiveness,” said Arnold. “(They’re) cheering for one another, supporting one another and no matter where I put them they go into it with a good attitude.”

Arnold added that the challenge right now is figuring out what lineup will serve the team best. She said the Patriots also need to work on faster starts and cleaner turns.

They’ll try to improve on those things before heading to Monroe to battle the Adams Central Flying Jets Monday night as they will try to improve to 3-0. Jay County had never lost to Adams Central before 2003-04, but fell 96-90 that year and lost again by a 119-67 count last season.

“They’ve beaten us the last couple of years,” said Arnold. “We’ll go in strong because we want that one back under our belt again.”[[In-content Ad]]