Vormohr leads Jay swimmers in sectional (02/05/07)

FORT WAYNE -- Only two athletes were able to break No. 4 Homestead's strangle-hold on the top three events.

One of them was from Jay County.

Sophomore Cori Vormohr finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke in Saturday's sectional meet.

The fourth-ranked host Spartans won six of seven individual swimming events and all three relays as they cruised to the title with 446 points. Huntington North was a distant second with 197. Norwell's Pair Brink was the only other non-Homestead swimmer to place in the top three as she won a pair of events in leading her team to a second-place finish with 168 points.

Jay County was seventh in the 11-team field, six points behind sixth-place Bellmont and 31 ahead of eighth-place Marion.

South Adams, which had its top effort with a fourth-place relay finish, was fifth as a team with 103 points.

Vormohr improved upon her preliminary time in the breaststroke by more than a second-and-a-half as she took the runner-up spot in 1-minute, 11 seconds.

Homestead's Emily Haifly ran away with the event in 1:06.22.

In the 100 butterfly Vormohr also dropped time from Thursday's preliminary round and finished fourth in 1:02.45.

Despite those top team efforts Vormohr fell short of a state berth as only the winner of each sectional race advances, as well as those who reach state cut times.

The required time for the breaststroke was 1:08.40, and for butterfly was 59.12.

Fellow sophomore April Acker was the only other Patriot to place among the top six individually. She rallied from 10th place after the first two rounds of diving to finish sixth with 280.05 points.

Vormohr anchored Jay County's other top-six finish in the 200 freestyle relay.

Joining her were Michelle Landfair, Briann Saxman and Tina Gingrasso for a sixth-place finish in 1:53.46.

South Adams was in the top six in all three relays, including a fourth-place effort of 1:49.89 from Jessica Sharp, Jansen Yoder, Megan Myers and Allison Beitler in the 200 freestyle relay.

Sharp, Beitler, Kirsten Wurster and Lauren Rich teamed for fifth in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 4:03.57. In the 200 medley relay it was Rich, Jansen Yoder, Channing Yoder and Courtney Hewitt teaming for a sixth-place finish in 2:06.75.

Sharp was the only Starfire individual to place in the top six, doing so in a pair of events. She was sixth in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle with times of 2:07.55 and 5:50.31 respectively.

The Patriots swimming in consolation finals Saturday turned in a host of career- and season-best times.

Leading that group was Saxman, who knocked three seconds off her preliminary time in the 100 butterfly for a ninth-place finish with a career-best time of 1:13.63.

Tina Gingrasso put up a career-best 1:00.99 for 10th in the 100 freestyle, and Tricia Skiver posted a career-best 11-dive score of 249.40 to finish 10th in diving.

The biggest drop in time on the day came from Jay County's 200 medley relay team of sophomores Ivy Simons, Lauren Murrell, Maddie Fennig and Christa Castillo. They sliced more than 15 seconds from Thursday's preliminary round, finishing the race in a season-best 2:17.29 for 10th place.

Freshman Michelle Landfair added a 12th-place finish in the 100 freestyle at 1:01.43.

Wurster and Channing Yoder each added two top-12 efforts for South Adams. Channing Yoder was 10th in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:33.19 and 11th in the 100 breaststroke at 1:19.22. Wurster finished with a times of 2:15.94 for 11th in the 200 freestyle and 6:14.62 for 12th in the 500 freestyle.

Others in the top 12 for the Starfires were Bethany Maven (eighth - 500 freestyle), Jalisa Balsiger (10th - 100 butterfly), Beitler (10th - 200 freestyle) and Hewitt (12th - 100 backstroke).[[In-content Ad]]