Jay tankers take second

A Patriot freshman boy kicked off his conference meet career with two titles.

A senior girl closed with a third straight crown. One of her junior teammates earned the only other individual win for the team.

The first-place efforts from Cooper Glentzer, Maddy Snow and Avery Wentz, along with a pair of relays, led Jay County High School to runner-up finishes Friday as it hosted the Allen County Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships.

The Patriot girls scored 341 points to trail champion South Adams, which finished with 412. The boys had 272 points for a distant second behind Bluffton (484).

Cooper Glentzer led the way for Jay County with his two victories, including a dominant win in the 500-yard freestyle. He finished more than a length of the pool ahead of the field in 5 minutes, 17.26 seconds, to beat Bluffton’s Graham Linderwell by 22 seconds.

The freshman was also strong in the 100 butterfly, posting a time of 54.98 to beat Isaac Wheeler of the champion Tigers.

Snow delivered a strong start for the girls team as she cruised to her third consecutive ACAC title. She scored 179.25 points to finish nearly 55 ahead of runner-up Adelynn Fiechter of Bluffton.

Wentz picked up the only other individual victory for the Patriot girls in the tightest race of the night. She out-touched Bluffton’s Tess Frauhiger by one hundredth of a second for the top spot in the 100 backstroke in 1:10.7.

In addition to his individual wins, Glentzer joined Carson Westgerdes, Lincoln Clamme and Peyton Yowell for first in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:37.89.

Wentz led off the winning 200 medley for the JCHS girls as she joined Sophia Hoevel, Lauren Fisher and Brooklynn Byrum for a time of 2:05.59.

Adding second-place finishes were Carson Westgerdes (200 individual medley) for the boys, and Aubrey Millspaugh (200 individual medley), Fisher (100 butterfly) and Byrum (500 freestyle) for the girls.