Patriots swim fast in prelims

Jay County High School boys swim coach Cori Vormohr has stressed all season the biggest goal was to have the fastest times come sectional.
The Patriots answered the challenge.
Jay County had its swimmers earn career-best times in 22 of 23 possible individual races and had all three relays swim the fastest they have all season as the Patriots advanced to the championship heat in nine events following Thursday’s IHSAA sectional swimming preliminaries they hosted.
“I am so happy for them,” said Vormohr, whose team was third at last year’s meet behind Delta and Muncie Central. “I am so happy that they have done so well because they have worked so hard. Day in, day out, weekends, mornings, they put in so much time. I am so happy and proud of them.
“We were nearly perfect; one swim off of being perfect. That is so crazy. It is so awesome and I can’t wait for Saturday. They are having fun and seeing that it’s all coming together.”
Diving preliminaries begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, followed by swimming and diving finals at 1 p.m.
Defending team champion Delta is in prime position to repeat, claiming six of 11 top seeds. Norwell and Muncie Central have two each and Bluffton has one.
South Adams, which was fifth a year ago, will swim in the championship heat of every event, and coach Andy Lehman was pleased with the effort the Starfires put forth Thursday.
“Very excited about our swims tonight,” said Lehman. “Unfortunately we missed out on a couple of those events with people getting 17th by a second or less.
“Even those guys dropped significant time to get to 17th place. I am very pleased with their performance overall.”
Perhaps the swimmer with the most improvement was JCHS junior Jason Minnich, who dropped six seconds in the 200-yard freestyle — his time of 1 minute, 57.24 seconds is seeded sixth — and will be third in the 500 freestyle (5:22.65).
“What’s impressive about that is … it is all a reflection of how hard he works,” Vormohr said. “He is always mentally prepared. Right now he his physically prepared. He does everything right and he is such a good kid. I am so glad it is all paying off for him because he works his butt off.”
Christopher McDowell will also swim in the championship heat of the 500 freestyle. His time of 5:25.44 has him seeded fourth.
Minnich is also part of Jay County’s 200 freestyle relay with Travis Barton, Connor Daniels and Sok Vormohr that is seeded second in 1:33.16. They are less than a second (0.91) off the school record, and their coach is hopeful they can shave that time and put their names in the record book.
“They all know they can do it and I just think it will be one of the most exciting races,” Cori Vormohr said. The Patriots are 2.5 seconds behind Delta.
The same four Patriots swam the 400 freestyle relay in 3:23.34 and are seeded third.
Individually, Sok Vormohr will be third in the 100 freestyle (49.62 seconds) and fifth in the 50 freestyle (22.92). He is ahead of teammate Connor Daniels, who is fifth (50.92) and sixth (22.99) in the 100 freestyle and 50 freestyle respectively.
Barton is fourth (2:14.14) in the 200 individual medley and sixth in the 100 butterfly (59.38), two spots ahead of freshman Tayler Smeltzer (1:02.45) in the latter.
“I’m so glad everything is clicking for (Barton) at the end of the season,” Vormohr said. “He is one throughout the season that was having little chunks off his time when other guys were dropping seconds. In his 100 butterfly he broke a minute, which is a very big deal getting under a minute in a stroke event. I know that was his goal for that so I know he’ll go even faster on Saturday.”
South Adams senior Daniel Burson has the highest seeds for the Starfires. He is second in the 500 freestyle (5:21.55) and third in the 200 freestyle (1:55.94), less than two tenths of a second ahead of teammate Jesse Sutton in fourth (1:56.1).
Sutton is also sixth in the 100 backstroke (1:00.83), with Zach Teeple earning a third seed in the 100 backstroke (58.48) and fifth in the 200 IM (2:14.4).
“I am very happy,” Lehman said of Teeple’s time in the 100 backstroke. “Ideally I’d like to see him go out and get second in that event so he knows he’s the No. 1 seed going into sectional next year.”
David Steffen is fourth in both the 50 freestyle (22.88) and 100 freestyle (50.69), and his twin brother Daniel is also fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.13). Drew LeFever is fourth in the 100 butterfly (55.29) and seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.07).
The Starfires’ 200 medley relay team (Teeple, Daniel Steffen, LeFever and David Steffen) is the second seed in 1:44.34. Zach Colpaert, the Burson twins and LeFever are fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:34.73), and the South Adams 400 freestyle relay team of Colpaert, Sutton, Teeple and Burson is also fourth (3:37.31).
Swimming in the consolation finals for Jay County are Garrett Campbell (12th – 200 freestyle, 15th – 100 freestyle), Ian Reynolds (13th – 100 butterfly, 16th – 100 backstroke), Thomas Boozier (10th – 100 breaststroke), Luke Nichols (13th – 100 backstroke), Alex LeMaster (16th – 100 breaststroke), McDowell (10th – 200 freestyle) and Smeltzer (ninth – 200 IM).
Also swimming Saturday for the Starfires will be Daniel Steffen (11 – 200 IM), Chris Beitler (14th – 50 freestyle), Xavier Rupp (11th – 100 butterfly), Brayden Collingsworth (15th – 500 freestyle) and Colpaert (ninth – 50 freestyle, ninth – 100 freestyle).