Bader earns medal

Sophie Bader finished ninth.
She was sure of it.
She had posted her best time in the 100-yard butterfly, far-and-away the best in school history. But coming in third in her heat and sitting sixth with one heat remaining, she had a bad feeling.
“Seeing that last heat go, I thought, ‘I’m gonna be ninth. I’m gonna be ninth,’” Bader said. “I didn’t watch half of the race.”
She was sure, still, based on the 50-yard splits in that final heat, that her time would not be enough.
“I turned around right at the finish and it took a while for (the times) to pop up. And I was like, ‘Please, please, please,’” said Bader. “And I saw it and I looked up at my mom and they were all jumping up and down. So then I knew.”
Then she was jumping up and down too with her arms in the air alongside her elated coaches, celebrating an eighth-place finish that guaranteed her a state medal.
Bader’s time of 56.05, which broke her own school record yet again, at Friday’s preliminary round of the IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals at Indiana University Natatorium made her just the second state medalist in the sport in Jay County High School history.
“Undescribable,” she said. “I’ve never been happier in my entire life.”
Bader will swim in the championship heat of the butterfly when competition resumes at 1 p.m. today, and she and her Patriot teammates will compete in the consolation finals of four other events thanks to Friday’s efforts.
The night belonged to Bader, who took to the pool for her signature race having already shattered her own school record in the 200 individual medley.
The senior was third midway through her heat, trailing only Vanessa Krause of Chesterton and Trude Rothrock of Carmel. Though she doesn’t typically recall much about her races, there was one moment that may have made the difference.
“I do remember on my third turn, I remember turning and seeing a girl over to the side of me, and I said, ‘I’ve got to go. I’ve got to go,” said Bader. “And that’s where I tried cranking it in.”
That girl right next to her was Carmina Armstrong of Jasper, who was just 0.11 seconds back of Bader midway through the race. Cranking it home worked for the Patriot who holds more records than any other as she powered to the finish for a time that beat her previous mark by 0.42 seconds.
Her record swim in the 200-yard individual medley came by an even wider margin — nearly two seconds — as she finished in 2 minutes, 5.77 seconds, for 13th place. Her previous mark was 2:07.61.
In addition to her two races Friday, Bader also holds JCHS records in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and all three relays.
“Sophie has got an outstanding mindset,” said Patriot coach Matt Slavik. “She’s got a great, positive energy about her. And I think she had her mind made up that she was going fast today. …
“I think she knew she was going to swim these races and she knew she was going to be fast. There was no doubt about it.”
The meet took a tough turn for Jay County later in the evening when Vormohr, who became the first Patriot swimmer to medal when she finished fifth in the 100 backstroke during her freshman season and repeated the feat last year, came up short of returning to the podium for a third time.
Her first 50 yards were fourth-fastest in the entire field, but she wasn’t able to keep up coming down the home stretch. Her time of 56.92 seconds left her in 11th place, 0.2 seconds behind eighth-place finisher Whitney Brown of Castle.
“She made her last turn and she just didn’t have her legs anymore,” said Slavik of the senior who is the school-record holder in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and all three relays in addition to the backstroke.
“That’s a fast swim. That puts her on the podium in any (other) state in the United States,” he added, noting the intensely fast event that saw Carmel’s Claire Adams break her own state record in 51.65. “It doesn’t put her on the podium in Indiana.”
Jay County dropped slightly from its 10th and 12th seeds in the relays to finish 13th in both. It posted times of 1:38.56 in the 200 freestyle event and 1:47.66 in the meet-opening 200 medley.
Vormohr narrowly missed advancing to the consolation finals in her other individual event — the 50 freestyle — placing 17th in 24.12. She had taken 11th in the same race a year ago.
Alex Bader, Sophie’s sophomore sister, made a big surge in her 100-yard breaststroke, giving the Patriots a third school-record time. She broke her previous mark of 1:06 by reaching the wall in 1:05.84.
That was good enough to vault her from her 27th seed entering the meet to 21st place.
The sophomore was also 27th in the 100 freestyle in 53.59.
“Across the board I’m happy with how we did today,” said Slavik while acknowledging they had hope for more in some events. “I’m happy with where our relays were. We’re coming back. Had I hoped we could be top eight, certainly, but … these girls have done more in four years than (all of) the previous 30 years. …
“There’s no pressure at all tomorrow. They can just go out and do their thing.
“It’s time to ... bounce back and swim tomorrow and see if we can get a little redemption and hopefully finish ninth place in a lot of events.”
Though South Adams’ season came to a close, the Starfires improved their seeds in both of their events.
Junior Ashton Klopp finished 27th in 1:58.21 in the 200 freestyle after entering the meet as the No. 28 seed. And she also teamed with her twin sister Brette, Olivia Von Gunten and Ashley LeFever for a time of 3:44.39 in the 400 freestyle relay, and event in which SAHS was seeded 29th.
“Overall I think we swam well,” said Starfire coach Andy Lehman. “We were right there with our seed times coming in, and our sectional times are our fastest times ever. So I’m very pleased wit the times that we had tonight. It gave our girls some good experience ...
“The girls are already excited and talking about what next year might look like for us.”
Former Patriot Sydney Mathias, whose family moved from Jay County midway through her sophomore year, and her Vincennes Lincoln teammates had similar results.
All juniors, Susan Skinner, Jessi Donovan, Becca Rutherford and Mathias — they are coached by Sydney’s mom Tiffany — combined for a time of 1:42.55 in the 200 freestyle relay. That was good for a move up to 28th after being seeded 30th.