Mathias heading back to state

JASPER — When Jay County’s swimmers travel to Indianapolis to compete Friday, they’ll also get to have a reunion with a former teammate.
Sydney Mathias, who spent her first season-and-a-half with the Patriots before her family moved, earned a state berth Saturday as part of the Vincennes Lincoln Alices’ 200-yard freestyle relay team. The team advances to compete the IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals, which begin with preliminaries at 6 p.m. Friday at Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.
Mathias and fellow juniors Susan Skinner, Jessi Donovan and Becca Rutherford fought off Jasper by just over a second to take the top spot in race. They bettered their preliminary time by more than two seconds to finish in 1 minute, 42.55 seconds.
The same four Alices teamed to take second place behind Jasper in the 200 medley relay in 1:56.53, breaking the school record of 1:57.68 that stood since 1985.
Mathias turned in her best individual effort in the 100 freestyle as she placed third in 56.87 seconds behind Jasper’s Emma Hopf and Donovan. She was seventh in the 100 backstroke in 1:07.36.
Vincennes Lincoln scored 295 points to finish third in the meet behind Jasper (520) and Heritage Hills (329).