Jay swimmers win easily

Sometimes the final score doesn’t matter.
Continuing to get better is what is important.
That was the approach of the Jay County High School boys and girls swim teams Tuesday in easy victories over the Elwood Panthers.
The Patriot boys won every event — they went uncontested in seven of the 11 races as well as diving — in an 86-8 victory over the Panthers.
Jay County’s girls also took first in all 12 events in their 80-22 win.
Liberty Christian did not compete in the meet because of inclement weather.
“We’re trying to figure out a few things as far as freestyle events go,” said boys coach Barry Weaver, whose team moved to 5-3 on the season. “Over the next few meets we’re going to put different guys in different events and see how things fly from there.”
In the closest race for either team, junior Sok Vormohr edged Aaron Haas in the 50-yard freestyle, winning the race in 24.69 seconds. Vormohr, who also won the 100 freestyle (53.48), trailed Haas after 25 yards before beating the Panther swimmer by two tenths of a second.
“That was good for him,” Weaver said of the comeback victory. “It wasn’t necessarily a personal-best time, but it was right there. It was a good fine swim.
“Sok is one of those kids that I think do better when they have competition. It pushes you to that next level when you have that close competition.”
In the 100 breaststroke, Jay County’s Luke Nichols and Luke Rowles were behind Elwood’s Damon Bogard after 50 yards, but Bogard ran out of steam after 75 yards and finished third. Rowles picked up his first individual victory of the season, finishing with a time of 1 minute, 20.37 seconds.
“I was glad to see Luke Rowles have a good swim,” Weaver said. “He’s been trying to break that 1:20 mark. You could see the head drop as soon as he looked at the score.
“Both (Rowles and Nichols) were right at their personal best time, and it’s neat to see them have a good race.”
Cody White took first in both the 200 freestyle (1:59.32) and the 500 freestyle (5:41.11). Christopher McDowell, who finished second to White in the 200 freestyle, turned in a personal best time of 2:10.68.
Travis Barton also won a pair of events, earning victories in the 200 individual medley (2:27.47) and the 100 butterfly (1:05.63). Ian Reynolds finished first in the 100 backstroke (1.10.65), and Christian Phillips scored 161.95 points to take first in diving.
For the Patriot girls, Katy Smeltzer beat Elwood’s Emma Kelley in the 500 freestyle by more than a second after they went back and forth throughout the race.
Smeltzer was in first through 150 yards until Kelley took the lead by a tenth of a second after 200 yards. The Patriot senior overcame the deficit 50 yards later, making the turn just three hundredths of a second ahead of Kelley.
Smeltzer led by as much as 0.87 seconds after 300 yards and by as little as 0.56 seconds heading into the final 50, during which she got some separation for the victory in 6:04.20.
“Katy swam a second faster than what her goal was for today,” said JCHS girls coach Matt Slavik, whose team moved to 9-0. “Talking with Katy beforehand, we set up where we wanted her to go. I thought it worked out pretty good that she had somebody that was right at that pace, she could play cat-and-mouse with her a little bit and make sure she was solid off her turns.”
Alex Bader and Anne Vormohr were also double winners. Bader won both the 200 freestyle (2:03.86) and the 100 butterfly (1:04.52), and Vormohr took first in the 50 freestyle (25.19) and 100 freestyle (55.18).
“We had a lot of girls swimming right at their season bests (or) right at their personal bests,” he said. “We’re not setting the world on fire with times, but we’re swimming consistent when we swim.”
Elizabeth McDowell was one of those swimmers who showed improvement. The freshman’s time of 2:36.63 in the 200 individual medley was five seconds off her career-best time. She finished second behind junior Sophie Bader (2:15.29), who also won the 100 backstroke in 1:03.88.
Slavik also noted the progress of Abby Saxman, Laurann Schoenlein and Taylor Campbell in the 500 freestyle, as well as freshmen Jenna Blount and Shanay Newton.
“We had a lot of time drops and it was from the girls that are fairly new to the program,” Slavik said. “They’re starting to see their work pay off. It’s encouraging right now.
“If we can match what we do in the pool with our enthusiasm on the deck — and increase our enthusiasm on the deck — we have all the makings of having a great series of meets here.”