Small Patriot boys swim team has to be versatile

The Patriots don’t quite have the numbers they have had in the past.

A pair of seniors will be tasked with leading a squad that will have to be versatile if there is any success to be had.

“They’ve got to do everything,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik, whose boys team opens the season Tuesday at home against Bluffton. “They have to be flexible.

“As long as we can get them all on the same page and pushing themselves at practice, I think in general they’ve been overshadowed by the girls and the success they’ve had.”

Kyle Sanders and Konner Sommers are the team’s only seniors, and Slavik will lean on them heavily this year.

“Coming back for a fourth year. I look to see good things out of Kyle,” he said. “I think he’s got potential to do really well through the season. If he can keep his energy and effort up all year long I think it’ll turn out as a super positive result for him.”

Sanders was fourth at sectional in the 200-yard freestyle and placed seventh in the 100 freestyle. He was also part of the fifth-place 200 medley relay and the seventh-place 400 freestyle relay.

Sommers was 13th at sectional in the 100 butterfly, the only individual event he placed in the top 16. He, Nick Lyons, Ralph Link and Wyatt Kunkler — they all return — took eighth in the 200 freestyle relay.

“Konner’s there in filling a ton of different roles,” Slavik said. “His roles have changed every year he’s been swimming. He’s just versatile. Got him moving around and finding out what’s going to be best for him as well as the team.

“He can pretty much do it all for us.”

Lyons, a sophomore, emerged as the team’s best backstroker last season, and Slavik sees him reprising that role this year as well as swimming mid-distance events.

Link, a junior, will focus on breaststroke and the individual medley, while Kunkler will provide the Patriots a one-two punch with Josh Monroe in the distance events.

Slavik said he’s got a choice to make as to where to put Kunkler, though, because he’s been swimming the 100 freestyle well during preseason practices.

“Wyatt could go either way,” Slavik said of putting him in the distance events or as a sprinter. “Almost hate to pull a kid that’s been splitting time like that and put him in distance.”

As for Monroe, Slavik said if Kunkler takes the distance spot it’ll free up the junior for other places the team may need him.

“He’s gained a lot of strength in the offseason,” he said of Monroe. “I’m looking forward to seeing what his times are.”

Slavik noted Aldon McCrosson, Joseph Dow and Kolby Baldwin will be bounced around every event depending on the team’s need each given meet.

Rounding out the 11-member squad are exchange students Efe Akinci and Masahiro Mitsuishi, who late last week were practicing diving.

The Patriots’ lone boys-only meet during the regular season is the Norwell Invitational on Dec. 11. Meets at home include the Celina Sprints on Dec. 4 and the Jay County Invitational Jan. 7 and 8. The Allen County Athletic Conference championships are set for Jan. 21, and sectional is slated for Feb. 17 and 19 at JCHS.

“I told them this is a standout year for you guys,” Slavik said. “It’s a little team but I think we can do as well with the team record as we have in the past.”