Jay Co. senior falls short

MONROE — In swimming, 1.3 seconds is a long time.
It can be the difference between a win and a loss.
It is also what separated Thomas Boozier from his goal of making the 50-second club.
Boozier, a Jay County High School senior, entered Tuesday’s meet at Adams Central — the Patriots boys won nine of 12 events for a 103-64 victory — with a career best of 1 minute, 7.77 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle.
Swimming in the final regular season meet of his high school career, he had two attempts at breaking one minute and joining the coveted 50-second club.
“I started thinking about the 50-second club late in the season,” said Boozier, who has been battling a shoulder injury for most of his senior campaign. “The shoulder did affect a lot of my freestyle in practice. I couldn’t rotate my shoulder as much as I needed to during practice.
“That made it tough.”
Still, he wanted to end on a high note by breaking 1 minute.
Seeded fifth in the event, Boozier swam to his seed, falling victim to a slow start off the blocks and finishing fifth behind race winner Ian Wellman (55.46 seconds) and runner-up Tristan Anderson of Adams Central.
Patriot teammate Tayler Smeltzer (57.63) finished third, and Adams Central’s Morgan Kaehr (1:00.6) was fourth.
While a fifth-place finish may not be welcoming to some, Boozier knocked more than six seconds off his time, finishing in 1:01.29.
Less than two seconds away from his goal.
Five races later, Boozier had another shot as the lead leg of the 400 freestyle relay.
He swam the first 50 yards in 28.99 seconds, on pace to clear a minute by more than two seconds.
But during the second 50 yards, Boozier’s pace waned and he finished with a split of 1:01.43.
As his teammates continued on — Travis Barton, Garrett Campbell and Connor Daniels helped the team win in 3:52.79 — Boozier sat on the pool deck in disappointment, face buried in his hands shedding tears after missing his goal yet again.
“He swam two good races back-to-back,” JCHS coach Cori Vormohr said.
“Came so close just to miss it by two seconds,” Boozier said. “Freestyle is not my main stroke. Sure it was a goal of mine to get 50-second club, but I’ll just keep pushing for breaststroke.”
And that’s precisely what Vormohr is counting on when sectional begins with preliminaries Feb. 18.
“We’re looking to sectional so his breaststroke can come down,” she said, adding the rest of the team posted times she was pleased to see at this point in the season. “They are right where they should be so we look like we’re set up for a good sectional.”
Garrett Campbell was the lone dual winner for Jay County, finishing first in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly.
His time of 2:25.68 seconds in the IM was more than 10 seconds faster than teammate Christopher McDowell, and he was almost two seconds ahead of Jon Bergdall of Adams Central by finishing the 100 butterfly in 1:07.63.
Earning single victories were Sok Vormohr (500 freestyle – 5:38.14), Daniels (200 freestyle – 2:00.91) and Barton (100 breaststroke – 1:17.81). Rob Garringer was uncontested in diving, totaling 130.1 points.
After winning the 500 freestyle, Vormohr had little rest as he anchored the winning 200 freestyle relay team of Jason Minnich, Ian Reynolds and Daniels. The quartet finished with a time of 1:41.56.
“His 500 freestyle wasn’t even a bad swim,” said Cori, Sok’s sister. “He swam well … I am proud of him for his finish there (in the relay) and pulling it off for the team because I knew he was tired.”
Vormohr and Barton also joined Tayler Smeltzer and Alex LeMaster to win the 200 medley relay in 1:58.57.
“They did really well,” Cori Vormohr said. “Overall just a good group of boys. Good leadership by the seniors so I’m really proud of them and looking forward to sectional.”