Patriots avoid last

Things looked bleak for the Patriots after the sectional prelims on Thursday.

Their divers helped them avoid the bottom spot.

The Jay County High School boys swim team got a lift from Bryden Carter and Brasen Glassford to score 115 points and finish 10th in the field of 11 at the IHSAA sectional meet on Saturday.

The Patriots’ 115 points was enough to beat South Adams (81), and came up five points shy of Blackford with 120. Bluffton ran away with the sectional championship as its 425 points outscored second-place Delta by 134.

“I felt these kids did an outstanding job performing,” JCHS coach Matt Slavik said. “When it came down to the end with where we were seeded, we got everybody to score that I was hoping to score.

“A couple more making it back would have been ideal, but all things considered, I’m super proud of it.”

Carter boasted the highest finish of the Patriots, taking fifth in the 1-meter diving. The JCHS freshman just missed the opportunity to make the trip to the diving regional at Homestead, as the top four finishers moved on.

Carter finished with a score of 242.2 points. Bluffton’s Elija Robles claimed the fourth spot at the regional with 268.7 points.

Glassford was initially in position to take fifth, and was only two points behind fourth place going into his final dive. Glassford’s final dive resulted in a failure, leaving him at 215.5 points, earning eight place.

“Bryden started later in the season and came on strong,” Slavik said. “He’s a super athletic kid and put everything together at the right time.

“Brasen had a great meet going into his final dive, but unfortunately ended up fail diving it. … All things considered, both our divers performed pretty well. They’ve come a long way in the last year.”

Matthew Fisher was the only Patriot to make the finals heat in any swimming event. He came in as the seventh seed for the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1 minute, 5.66 seconds. Huntington North’s Luke Stults earned the eighth seed with a 1:06.35.

Fisher ended up falling to eighth after swimming a 1:06.12 in the finals.

“He went a little slower than he did at prelims because when he hit the wall and had a bad turn on lap one,” Slavik said. “Had he not misjudged the wall, he certainly would have been a couple seconds faster than Thursday.

“All things considered, he was our lone finalist this year. I’m super proud of how he did in both his events as a sophomore.”

Jay County had 11 entries in the consolation finals.

    •200 medley relay team (ninth)

    •400 freestyle relay team (ninth)

    •200 freestyle relay team (10th)

    •Joseph Dow - 200 freestyle (10th) and 500 freestyle (12th)

    •Peyton Yowell - 100 freestyle (13th) and 50 freestyle (15th)

    •Fisher - 200 individual medley (14th)

    •David Keen - 100 butterfly (15th)

    •Lincoln Clamme - 100 breaststroke (15th) and 100 freestyle (16th)