Conquered conference foe

The Patriots were upset with their results against the Starfires.

They lost to the Allen County Athletic Conference foe in both the dual contest and in the conference meet.

The sectional gave the Patriots the opportunity to redeem themselves, and they made the most of it.

The host Jay County High School girls swim team got revenge on the South Adams Starfires while finishing fourth at the IHSAA Sectional 7 tournament on Monday.

The sectional finals was originally scheduled for Saturday, but got delayed due to weather before being made up on Monday.

The Patriots finished with 234 points to beat out South Adams with 177 for fourth place. After beating the Vikings by 5.5 points last season, Patriots trailed Huntington North by seven for third place. Delta dominated the field with 523 to win its third consecutive sectional title, a feat that was last completed by Jay County at Sectional No. 7 from 2019-21. Norwell was the runner-up with 347.

    Jay County High School’s Alyvia Muhlenkamp swims the consolation heat of the 100-yard breaststroke during Monday’s sectional that the Patriots hosted. Muhlenkamp finished 14th with a time of 1 minute, 28.1 seconds, in her first sectional appearance. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

“The biggest thing was, we got beat by South Adams in our conference so the girl’s biggest goal was to finish ahead of South Adams,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik. “After the prelims we thought, ‘Hey we can try and take Huntington North too.’ We came within 10 points of that.

“As a team finish, I’m super pleased. … We came back and had a lot of great swims. It’s hard gearing everything up for Saturday and then having it moved to Monday, but it was still a good way to finish the season.”

The first-place finisher in all of the swimming events earned berths to the state tournament at IU Natatorium on Friday, while the top four divers from Saturday’s competition moved on to Tuesday’s regional at Hamilton Southeastern. Delta claimed 10 of the 11 state berths, and Bluffton’s Gabriella Coyne claimed the other first-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Jay County’s highest finish came from the 400 freestyle relay team of Brooklynn Byrum, Aubrey Millspaugh, Lauren Fisher and Sophia Hoevel. The Patriot relay took third place with a time of 4 minutes 0.24 seconds, which trailed Delta’s team by 13.5 seconds for the top spot.

The highest JCHS individual finish on Monday came from Fisher in the 100 butterfly. The junior swam a 1:05.26 to claim fourth in the event. Second through fourth place were only separated by 0.74 seconds, and the close competition helped Fisher to a comfortable lead over the bottom half of the finals. (Delta’s Annie Jackson won the event for a fourth straight year with a 59.58.)

Fisher also swam in the 50 freestyle, finishing eighth with a time of 27.50.

“I think since second through sixth were all really close in times, that really just pushed me to try and stay up there,” Fisher said. “Just getting into the finals is very exciting. Even if I didn’t get the time I wanted in my 50 free, just being top eight is exciting.”

Also swimming in two finals races as an individual was Byrum. The freshman also competed in the 100 butterfly, placing sixth in 1:08.49. Earlier in the meet, Byrum swam the 200 individual medley. Her time of 2:32.59 earned seventh, ahead of Delta’s Katie Shue by 0.4 seconds.

While Byrum would have liked to finish a little stronger, she was glad to experience swimming in the sectional finals in all four events – she was also a part of the 200 medley relay – as a freshman.

“It was a really nice experience,” Byrum said. “One that I was hoping to experience this year, but wasn’t completely certain. … I’m just thankful for my teammates for supporting me, keeping me optimistic and helping me through this season.”

Photo Gallery

Jay County girls swim sectional (2/10/2025)

Katilyn Fisher and Kenzie Huey were the other two Patriots to compete in the finals. Fisher placed eighth in the 100 butterfly (1:09.69), while Huey came in seventh in the 100 backstroke (1:10.15). (Maddy Snow and Kali  Newelll also scored fourth and 13th in the 1-meter diving on Saturday.

Huey, Lauren Fisher, Byrum and Sophia Hoevel combined for a 2:02.31, which was good for fifth in the 200 medley relay, while Millspaugh, Kaitlyn Fisher, Huey and Ariel Beiswanger got seventh in the 200 freestyle relay with a 1:54.50.

Jay County had nine more placements in the consolation heats. Most notably, Millspaugh secured a pair of ninth-place finishes with times that were better than some of the tankers in the finals. Her 2:32.05 in the individual medley would have climbed up to fifth, while a 1:11.20 would have secured eighth in the 100 backstroke.

Other placements came from:

•Hoevel: ninth in the 100 freestyle and 12th in the 200 freestyle

•Beiswanger: 11th in the 200 freestyle and 11th in the 500 freestyle

•Kaitlyn Fisher: 11th in the 200 individual medley

•Snow: 12th in the 100 breaststroke

•Alyvia Muhlenkamp: 14th in the 100 breaststroke

The Patriots will graduate four tankers including Snow, Huey and Millspaugh, all of whom competed in the finals.

The rest of the Patriots’ core is set to come back with a group of incoming freshmen that leaves Slavik optimistic for the future.

“We’ve got a large junior group of girls that are going to make good leaders and a strong group of freshmen coming in next year,” Slavik said. “I think that’s a good starting point to look ahead for the future for this team. The future is bright for them.”