Nice day for a swim

Compiled by Colin Foster

The Celina girls' swimming team and Jay County's were neck and neck going into the final few events of Saturday's Jay County Invitational.

"Had I known (we were close), I would have stacked that last relay," Celina coach Dawn Schwieterman said. "We were close. We were actually ahead a little bit going into the last two relays, but they had two relays that scored ahead of us."

The host Patriots outscored the Bulldogs 406 1/2-371 1/2 for the win on a day that had plenty of big performances by area swimmers.

Rounding out the top five in the girls' team standings were Oak Hill (Indiana) (307 1/2 points), Fort Recovery (291) and New Bremen (168). Minster was sixth (168), Coldwater was ninth (81), St. Marys 11th (43), St. Henry 14th (24) and Marion Local 15th (23).

Oak Hill was the team champion in the boys competition with a total of 481 1/2. Bluffton was second (350 points and Versailles third (266). The highest area finisher was Minster in sixth (186). St. Marys took seventh (172), New Bremen eighth (167), Celina ninth (102), Marion Local 10th (77), Coldwater 11th (55 1/2) and Fort Recovery 13th (1).

"When you've got Celina and Jay County and Oak Hill, which are all really strong teams, the competition is just great," Fort Recovery coach Mindy Bubp said. "I think it was good for the kids because it really pushed them to do well today."

Celina freshman Kennedy Newell was a champion in two events, the 200 individual medley (2:19.15) and the 100 freestyle (55.82 seconds).

"She's right on top of her game right now," Schwieterman said. "She's also a (YMCA) swimmer, so she's getting double practices and she's just been consistent all year long."

Claire Gass took runner-up in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.84), Zoe Rolfes placed fourth in the 50 free (26.54 seconds), Danielle Slechter was third in the 500 freestyle (5:53.38) and Kenzie Conn was fourth in the 100 backstroke (1:05.18).

Celina's 200 medley relay team (Amanda Slechter, Claire Gass, Kennedy Newell and Kenzie Conn) took runner-up (1:55.71). Celina's second team (Danielle Slechter, Paige Duncan, Emma Guggenbiller and Zoe Rolfes) placed fourth in the event (2:02.65).

The Bulldogs also placed two teams in the top four of the 200 freestyle relay. Gass, Guggenbiller, Newell and McKenna Black finished second (1:45.17). Amanda Slechter, Rolfes, Danielle Slechter and Conn were fourth (1:46.96).

Several other girls from Celina set personal-bests at the meet as well. "It was a good day," Schwieterman said. "Our girls did really well."

Celina's Keaton McMurray blew away the competition in all of his events. He won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:04.44. The next closest time was a 2:13.57. McMurray swam a 5:04.57 in the 500 free; the next closest time was a 5:19.19.

"Keaton hasn't swam the IM a lot for us and it was also the first time he swam the 500 for us this year," Schwieterman said. "He did really well in both of those events. ... And the other two boys, Zach and Kyle, did really well. They both got their personal-bests, so it was a great meet."

At Friday night's diving portion of the meet, Celina diver John Robinson was runner-up in the 1-meter diving with a score of 300.45. Fort Recovery's Cassy Martin was runner-up in the 50 free (25.32 seconds) and in the 100 backstroke (1:04.27) - breaking her previous record by a tenth of a second.

"She's swimming at our best right now," coach Bubp said.

Fort Recovery's Ava Bubp was third in the 200 freestyle (2:09.56) and fourth in the 100 free (58.25 seconds). Alexis Bubp was runner-up in the 100 butterfly (1:05.31) and was third in the 200 IM (2:25.50). Sophie Timmerman finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.13).

"Ava broke one minute for the first time in the 100 free, which was a good day for her," coach Bubp said. "I think all around, we were close to our best times. With it being mid-season, I'm pretty happy with everyone's performances."

The Indians had relay success, too, as the Bubps, Timmerman and Martin won the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:52.71. The Bubps, Paige Fortkamp and Martin placed third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:45.73).

"We had a good day," coach Bubp said. "I think we came in top five in everything except for maybe our medley relay."

Minster's Joseph Magoto secured a third-place result in the 100 fly (1:02.48). The girls' 400-yard freestyle relay team of Kaitlynn Albers, Emma Watcke, Claire Borgerding and Magoto placed fourth (4:02.24). Individually, the Wildcat women had several top-five finishes as well.

"On the girls' side, we had, generally speaking, a very, very good meet," said Minster assistant coach Logan Pfeifer. "It was a meet where a lot of people got to swim events that they usually don't swim. They had opportunities to work on strokes that they usually don't do.

"On the guys' side, we did something very similar," he added. "A lot of guys got to swim events that they usually don't get to swim. It just proved that they could. It was a fun meet overall. A lot of people had really good times. I think they enjoyed it."

For New Bremen, Ezra Ferguson won the 100 breaststroke (1:04.00). Sam Rutschilling was fourth in the 100 free (54.51 seconds).

In the 1-meter diving competition, New Bremen's Vivian Niekamp was third with a score of 379.14. Rutschilling, Josh Niekamp, Zach Schwieterman and Ferguson took silver in the 200 freestyle relay (1:39.38). That same group also was runner-up in the 400 freestyle relay (3:44.03).

Leading the way for St. Marys was Kyle Lucas, who finished third in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.79) and fourth in the 50 freestyle (24.01 seconds). St. Marys' 200 medley relay quartet (Lucas, Jacob Westerfield, Xander Spees and Austin Hertenstein) placed fourth (1:54.60).

For Coldwater, Jack Bills won the 100 backstroke (1:01.24) and placed fourth in the 200 free (2:06.59). Diver Isaac Osterfeld placed fourth in Friday's competition with a total of 292.40.

Coldwater's Macy May was runner-up in the 200 freestyle (2:07.22) and in the 100 freestyle (57.27 seconds).