2025-26 Jay County girls swim preview

2024-25 season

The Patriots put together a solid season, finishing with a 10-4 record, but fell short in conference with losses to South Adams in the regular season and at the Allen County Athletic Conference meet. They were able to get some revenge on the Starfires, finishing fourth at the sectional, while SAHS placed fifth with a 57-point difference. The highest sectional finish for the Patriots came from the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Brooklynn Byrum, Aubrey Millspaugh, Lauren Fisher and Sophia Hoevel. The group placed third in the event with a time of 4 minutes, 0.24 seconds. Maddy Snow made it to the diving regional for a third year in a row, but didn’t advance to state.

Girls swim schedule

Date    Opponent    Time

Saturday, Nov. 22    Westfield    10 a.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 2    Bluffton    6 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 4    Anderson    6 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 6    Celina Sprints    10 a.m.

Thursday, Dec. 12    Norwell    6 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 15    South Adams    6 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 16    Delta    6 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 22    Adams Central    6 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 30    Battle of the Border    8 a.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 6    Bellmont    6 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 8    Celina/Coldwater    6 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 9    JCHS Invite    6 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 10    JCHS Invite    10 a.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 13    Yorktown    6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 20    Muncie Central    6 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 24    ACAC Invite    9 a.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 27    Blackford/Burris    6 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 29    Marion    6 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 5    Sectional prelims    5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 7    Sectional finals    9 a.m.

Home meets in bold

Projected lineup

Seniors

Lauren Fisher – Butterfly, sprints

Sophia Hoevel – Freestyle

Maisey Keller – Backstroke, freestyle

Avery Wentz – Backstroke

Juniors

Ariel Beiswanger – Distance freestyle

Kaylynn Clark – Distance freestyle

Sophomores

Kali Newell – Diving

Brooklynn Byrum – IM, butterfly

Kaitlyn Fisher – Butterfly

Alyvia Muhlenkamp – Breaststroke

Freshmen

Elly Byrum – Butterfly

Gabrielle Gibson – Distance freestyle

Gillian Keller – Distance freestyle

Maria Laux – Free, back, breast

Madison McLaughlin – Utility

Eloise Teeter – Freestyle, breaststroke

Kali Wendel – Mid-distance freestyle

Games to watch

Monday, Dec. 15, vs. South Adams

The Patriots suffered their sole Allen County Athletic Conference loss to the Starfires last year. If Jay County wants to reclaim the ACAC title, it will need to secure its home pool against the neighbors to the north.

Friday-Saturday, Jan. 9-10, vs. JCHS Invitational

The Jay County Invitational is a key midseason meet when the team starts to figure out the roles of the individual athletes. It also comes quickly after the winter break and helps whip the Patriots back into shape.

Saturday, Jan. 24, vs. ACAC Invitational

The Allen County Athletic Conference meet holds importance for bragging rights of the ACAC title and is an opportunity to get an idea of a lineup before heading into the sectional.

Coach Matt Slavik says

“I think going into this season, we’re pretty blessed to have a strong freshman group coming in. Girls wise, we’re bringing in six young ladies with some good experience and melding in nicely into our program and will be able to step up and contribute right off the bat. We lost a decent sized senior class, (but) we’ve got a decent sized senior class this year. We’ve got some great leadership on our team and some great talent coming back. The expectation is, on paper, this should be the best team that we’ve seen in a couple of years as far as times wise. It’s just about where we can fit everybody in and make it work together for a solid team performance. I think our goals for this year, we set high goals every year, and this year is no exception. Our No. 1 goal as a team is to have above a 3.8 GPA and second is to win our conference and third is to represent well at sectionals.”