Top-three team

Mara Bader positioned herself for another double trip to state.

The Patriots showed they are still solidly one of the top teams in the sectional.

Bader earned a pair of No. 1 seeds and the host Jay County High School girls swim team is projected for a third-place finish after seven Patriots earned berths in individual championship races during Thursday’s sectional preliminaries.

Based on the preliminary results, JCHS is the No. 3 seed as a team about 15 points behind the favorites to battle for the title — defending champion Norwell and Delta. (Projections do not include points for diving.)

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik. “This is a really great group of kids. They’re extremely hard working and they’re extremely coachable. …

“Last night all their hard work and dedication and long hours paid off, top to bottom.”

Delta led the way with six No. 1 seeds, including all three relays. Jay County and South Adams were next with two apiece, and Huntington North had one.

The meet continues with diving preliminaries at 9 a.m. Saturday followed by swimming and diving finals at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Bader, a three-time state qualifier in the 200-yard individual medley who also advanced in the 100 breaststroke last season, showed herself to be the dominant swimmer in the sectional in both events again. She was 3.53 seconds faster than No. 2 seed Ella Krug of Norwell in the 200 IM in 2:23.47 and finished nearly four seconds ahead of No. 2 seed Julia Arnold of South Adams in the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.1.

Senior Maggie Nussbaum of South Adams (200 freestyle and 500 freestyle) and freshman Eleanor Groves (50 freestyle and 100 freestyle) of Delta matched Bader in each earning a pair of top seeds.

The top relay seed for the Patriots came in the 200 freestyle in which they were second behind Delta by 1.3 seconds. Lauren Fisher, Zion Beiswanger, Morgan DeHoff and Bader put up a time of 1:47.37.

Aubrey Millspaugh, a JCHS sophomore, had a huge evening in terms of climbing the sectional ladder. Projected seventh in the 500-yard freestyle based on seed times, she dropped almost 16 seconds to move all the way up to the No. 3 seed in 5:57.03 behind Nussbaum and Delta’s Addison Shue. She also sliced about 6.5 seconds off her seed time in the 200 freestyle and is seeded seventh at 2:12.32.

Her more than 22 seconds of time dropped from her seed marks were part of an evening in which the Patriots had career-best swims in 98% of their events and dropped a total of 110 seconds.

“Aubrey shaving time — all three of our distance kids, early on (this season) they said this is what we want to do,” said Slavik. “They had to do a lot on their own. It paid off.

“They left it all in the pool. All of our kids did last night.”

Continuing a long-standing tradition of strength in the 100 breaststroke, DeHoff, a sophomore, picked up the No. 3 seed for Jay County behind Bader and Arnold at 1:15.42. Beiswanger, a junior, gave the Patriots a third swimmer in the championship race in the event as she earned the seventh seed at 1:19.09.

Fisher, a freshman, joined Bader and Millspaugh in qualifying for two championship races. She had times of 1:06.55 for the No. 5 seed in the 100 butterfly, cutting almost six seconds from her seed time, and 27.07 for the No. 8 seed in the 50 freestyle.

Kenzie Huey, a sophomore, earned the No. 5 seed at 1:08.67 in the 100 backstroke. Junior Hannah Laux cut more than 6.5 seconds from her seed time in the 200 individual medley and is seeded seventh.

Bader, DeHoff, Fisher and Huey finished in 1:59.31 for the No. 3 seed in the 200 medley relay, and Millspaugh, Laux, Sophia Hoevel and Avery Wentz had a time of 4:13.45 for the No. 6 seed in the 400 freestyle relay.

Union City’s Elly O’Connor, who trains with the Patriots and was a state qualifier in the freestyle sprints last season, is the No. 2 seed behind Groves in the 100 freestyle at 56.39. She also earned the No. 3 seed in the 50 freestyle, posting a time of 25.99.

Advancing to swim in Saturday’s consolation finals for the Patriots were Laux (ninth – 100 butterfly), Hoevel (ninth – 100 freestyle, 10th – 200 freestyle), Beiswanger (10th – 200 individual medley), Wentz (11th – 100 backstroke, 13th – 500 freestyle), DeHoff (12th – 100 butterfly) and Abigail Johnson (15th – 500 freestyle).