Jay tankers beat AC

The Patriots didn’t lose a race.
In fact, they nearly swept each swimming event too.
Jay County High School’s girls swim team earned the top three spots in five of the 11 swimming events Monday in defeating the visiting Adams Central Flying Jets, 221-76.
The victory was the first for Jay County over a new Allen County Athletic Conference opponent.
“It was a great night,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik, whose team placed first and second in every race. “Hats off to Adams Central, they had a pretty solid diving event tonight. In sheer numbers game we have an advantage with having more kids on our squad.
“It was a good, solid win too.”
After joining Sydney Mathias, Katy Smeltzer and Anne Vormohr to win the 200-yard medley relay, Sophie Bader — one of four Patriots to win multiple events on the night — kicked off the individual races with a victory in the 200 freestyle. She finished with a time of 2 minutes, 0.65 seconds, ahead of teammates Taylor Campbell and Abby Saxman. It was the first of three victories the Patriots (1-0, 1-1 ACAC) won by 30 seconds or more. The junior also won the 100 freestyle in 55.35 seconds.
Sophie’s younger sister Alex, who on Saturday set a new school record in the 100 breaststroke, took first in the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle. In the 200 IM, the freshman was a half-pool length ahead of classmate Elizabeth McDowell, and extended her lead to nearly half a minute as she finished with a time of 2:17.57.
Slavik said Alex Bader and McDowell have been a nice addition to the team just two meets into the young season.
“It’s always nice when you can have freshmen come in right off the bat,” he said. “We’re blessed to have a good club program that trains them. There is a lot of continuity between the club coaches, me and the summer coaches.
“The freshmen are a big help.”
Smeltzer, one of three seniors on the squad, won both the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke, edging classmate Laurann Schoenlein and sophomore Mathias respectively. Mathias picked up another second-place finish in the 100 freestyle. She was also part of the winning 200 freestyle relay team with Ashley Mark, Sophie Bader and Smeltzer.
Vormohr was the fourth and final dual-event winner, placing first in the 100 butterfly (1:02.38) and the 100 breaststroke (1:12:05). Ashley Mark and Allisyn Smith were second and third respectively in the 100 butterfly, and Jamie Valentine and Mark trailed Vormohr in the 100 breaststroke.
With a large number of Patriots swimming in events that aren’t their strongest, Slavik said he is hoping the versatility of his swimmers can give Jay County some more ammunition for the end of the season.
“Pretty much everybody swam off events to get another look,” he added. “There were a couple surprises tonight. Some kids may be having a change of assignment.”
Alex Bader, he said, was not far off the 200 IM school record held by her sister, and added the freestyle swims of Abby Saxman and Cassie Reno are going to help with the team’s depth moving forward.
“We look forward to working with (them) and focusing more on the sprint freestyles,” he said. “Right now we need an eighth freestyler in both sprint events to be at the one-minute and the 26 to 27 (second) mark.”
Also earning top-three finishes were Katie Mast (second - 500 freestyle), Mackenzie Knisely (third - 500 freestyle), Heather Stinson (second - diving) and Lou Moser (third - diving).