Close competition

MONROE — Tristen Wurm was already nearing the far end of the pool when Joseph Dow dived off the starting block. The senior had two laps to make up a 25-yard deficit.

The second he hit the water he was working to make up ground. By the time he had finished his first lap, the crowd started to believe.

By the time he swam 75 yards, he had caught up to Wurm. They were neck-and-neck as they raced towards the wall, but Dow was too much for Wurm.

Just before, three girls competed in a heated battle for the 100-yard breaststroke. The Jets’ Savannah Hendricks and the Patriots’ Morgan DeHoff and Zion Beiswanger never got more than a foot ahead of each other.

All three hit the panel at what looked like the same time to the naked eye. It was only when looking up at the scoreboard that one could know who won.

Despite Dow earning the victory for the Patriots boys in the 400 freestyle relay, it wasn’t enough for the team to overcome the Jets, while Hendricks edged out DeHoff and Beiswanger but couldn’t pull her team ahead of the Patriots.

The Jay County High School swim teams came out on opposite sides of close finishes Monday against the host Adams Central Jets. The depth of the girls team led it to a 101-68 victory while the boys were too short handed, falling 93-70.

“We had a good meet,” JCHS coach Matt Slavik said. “Happy with where most of the kids are at right now. …

“The girls came away with a nice win tonight. The boys came up short. We’re down a few people right now, so I was hoping we could sneak it out without them but that’s the way it goes.”

There were a handful of tight races, but none more dramatic than the boys 400 freestyle relay and the girls 100 breaststroke.

The team of Lincoln Clamme, Matthew Fisher, Max Klopfenstein and Dow finished in 4 minutes, 36.97 seconds, to complete the come-from-behind victory, beating the Jets relay team by 2.85 seconds.

The finish between Hendricks, DeHoff and Beiswanger was within 0.17 seconds of each other. 

The Adams Central swimmer pulled off the win at 1:21.22, while DeHoff just behind at 1:21.25 and Beiswanger clocking in at 1:21.39.

The girls team (4-3, 3-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) got a strong performance from Aubrey Millspaugh, who had a pair of victories in the 200 individual medley (2:44.96) and 500 freestyle (6:30.31).

“That was the fastest 500 I’ve had all season,” Millspaugh said. “That was the first time I've been a double event winner. So just having that confidence boost going into the rest of the season I think was really great.”

The girls had two other first-place finishes, coming from the 400 relay team and Naroa Zugasti in the 1-meter diving (93.3 points).

The boys team’s (1-6, 1-2 ACAC) top performers were Dow and Clamme. The JCHS sophomore put out top performances in the 100 freestyle (1:02.2) and the 100 breaststroke (1:23.11).

“When I'm in the water, I always just have to keep telling myself to just keep going,” Clamme said. “Having that self confidence really helps me get through the races.”

JCHS senior Joseph Dow anchors the 400-yard freestyle relay at Adams Central on Monday. Down 25 yards, Dow made up ground for the Patriots to win the relay. Dow also added two individual victories, but the Patriots couldnÕt pull off the win, falling to the Jets 93-70. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko).

 

Along with Dow’s comeback in the 400 freestyle relay, he won the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:12.23 and the 500 freestyle in 6:09.96.

Slavik said he was happy with Dow’s improvements and where he is sitting at this time of the year to prove he can be a competitor when the postseason rolls around.

The Patriots will take part in Thursday’s Celina Sprints — the meet, which is held at JCHS, was postponed from its original Dec. 2 date —  before a diving-only meet at Homestead on Dec. 27. Their next dual meet will take place after the new year at Bellmont, giving Jay County time to train and refine some of the areas Slavik has noticed could use improvement.

“We found a few key areas that we need to get some improvement on, which is a good time of year for it because we are going into training for the next two weeks,” Slavik said. “We need to increase our speed, arm speed turnover rates, and turns. We've just got to get quicker on the walls.

“We spent a lot of time focusing on power. We are hoping that muscle memory will hold that so we can transition to speed training.”