Patriot family pipeline

Her cousins were both Cardinals.

Her two older sisters are, too.

Eliza Bader is continuing the pipeline to Muncie.

Bader, who graduated from Jay County High School last month, signed her national letter of intent recently to join the Ball State University women’s swimming and diving team, becoming the fifth member of her family to be a Cardinal.

“It’s amazing to be able to go there after I’ve had four family members go swim there,” she said. “I guess it’s a family thing at this point.”

Cousin Cori (Vormohr) Sieg was the first in the family to make the trek southwest to Muncie after graduating in 2009. In 2016, Cori’s sister Anne and Eliza’s eldest sister Sophie signed to swim for Ball State, and Alex Bader followed two years later.

Eliza is now the third in a family of four girls to compete for the Mid-American Conference school.

“Swimming is a family tradition in a lot of respects,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik. “The Baders certainly have a strong family tradition to form a pipeline from Jay County to Ball State.”

Bader said the recruiting process was much different from what her sisters experienced given that her senior season was highly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

She went on a visit to the University of Indianapolis, but was not able to go on an official visit to Ball State because the NCAA had implemented an in-person recruiting dead period for Division I institutions. The University of Indianapolis is an NCAA Division II school, and that level had resumed its regular recruiting schedule Sept. 1.

“It was definitely a struggle at first,” said Bader, who was able to compete in the 2020 IHSAA state tournament in February 2020 but saw her club state championships canceled.

This season, a number of Jay County’s swim meets were rescheduled or canceled because of the pandemic. She was still not able to be recruited at the NCAA Division I level.

“It was a struggle at first and then I started being able to reach out to college coaches,” she said.

Having two sisters swim for the Cardinals helped the recruiting process for BSU.

“I know the campus and I’ve known the coaches because of my sisters,” she added. “I just knew that it was the place to be.”

A four-time state qualifier in the 100-yard butterfly and two-time state participant in the 50 freestyle, Bader said her sisters didn’t pressure her into following them to Ball State; instead they kept a bit of distance as they understood the gravity of the decision.

“After a while, I just knew it was the place to be because that’s where my two older sisters went and my cousins have gone there,” she said. “I just knew that was going to be my home for the next four years.”

She’ll have a sibling on the team as well.

“To be able to swim with Alex again, I’m excited for that,” she said. “And I’m just grateful to have the opportunity to go there.”

In addition to swimming being ingrained in the family’s DNA, so too is working in the medical field. Her father, Christian, owns and operates Portland Veterinary Clinic. Sister Sophie and cousin Anne are both nurses. Her uncle Frank Vormohr is a primary care physician, and cousin Joseph Vormohr is an internal medicine specialist.

She, too, will join the medical field and study nursing while at Ball State.

“I’ve always wanted to do nursing,” she said. “I really enjoy helping others and I just feel like nursing is the best place to go out and help others and give back to our community.”