Strength in numbers

The Patriot girls won the opening event of the evening.

It was their only victory. But that didn’t matter.

There is, after all, strength in numbers.

Jay County High School’s girls swim team rode a diving victory from Maddy Snow and its large roster to its seventh consecutive Allen County Athletic Conference championship.

“We knew coming into the season our depth was going to be a big deal for us,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik, whose team took two of the top four spots in six individual events. “With where we’re at with the talent level on this team, they all optimize what they can do in the pool. And it certainly helps having three kids in every event that can score points. They swam really well. They maximized the number of points that we got. … We scored more than I anticipated when I looked at this meet earlier in the week.”

“It was truly a team effort,” he added. “Everybody contributed.”

The girls scored 405 points to finish 108 ahead of runner-up South Adams, which won four events compared to the Patriots’ one. Adams Central followed with 274 and Bluffton was last with 183.

Jay County’s boys were third with 270 points, finishing 15 behind runner-up Adams Central and well ahead of last-place South Adams (134). Bluffton easily took the boys title as it racked up nine victories and 508 points.

Snow highlighted the day for the Patriots, winning diving easily despite returning to the lineup for the first time after more than six weeks off. She racked up 196.4 points to easily outdistance runner-up Kaylynn Grush (122.85) of South Adams.

"I'm glad to be back and I’m glad that I could do the best that I could with an easier (dive) list today,” said Snow, who had not competed since Dec. 7 because of a partially torn labrum.

"It was pretty good,” she added. “It obviously wasn’t to the level that I was before, but I’m really excited for the next few weeks and getting ready for sectional.”

Third- and fourth-place finishes from Naroa Zugasti and Lucy Mace gave the Patriots a jump-start on the competition.

“Without a doubt, that’s huge,” said Slavik. “Coming in now and carrying over into the tournament series, in Indiana high school swimming you have to have a dive team if you’re trying to score team points. … Having Maddy back and only being off four points from her best performance after the month-and-a-half break … is pretty tremendous. She looked really good tonight.”

The Patriots’ strength in numbers showed up in the pool:

•100-yard breaststroke — Zion Beiswanger second and Morgan DeHoff third

•100 backstroke — Avery Wentz second and Kenzie Huey third

•200 individual medley — Lauren Fisher second and Hannah Laux fourth

•100 butterfly — Fisher second and Kenzie Clayton fourth

•200 yard freestyle — Aubrey Millspaugh third and Sophia Hoevel fourth

Millspaugh was also third in the 500 freestyle and DeHoff finished fourth in the 50 freestyle.

Jay County narrowly missed victory in the 200-yard medley relay as Brooke Thomas of Adams Central out-touched Beiswanger at the wall for a winning time of 2 minutes, 4.25 seconds, just 15 hundredths faster than the Patriot squad that also included Fisher, DeHoff and Wentz.

Joseph Dow recorded the top finish for the boys team as he placed third in the 200 freestyle. He was also fourth in the 500 freestyle, and Lincoln Clamme added a fourth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke.

“All the way across the board they were solid,” said Slavik. “Grayson Swoveland dropped a ton of time tonight. Joseph Dow scored some nice points. Matthew Fisher had some nice swims. In general, it’s hard to point out any one person.”