Starfires fall short at Patriots
Allen County Athletic Conference action resumed for South Adams Swimming on Monday with the Starfires falling at Jay County. The Patriots won the girls competition by a score of 146-119. Jay County earned a 145-76 win in the boys event.
Jay County started the night well by finishing first and second in the girls 200 yard medley relay. Hannah Scott, Calah Hill, Aleena Bierbaum and Addy Watson of South Adams took third place in the event.
The Starfires picked up a win in the 200 yard freestyle. Nia Litwiller beat out three Jay County swimmers for first place in the event.
The momentum continued for South Adams in the 200 IM when Julia Arnold won with a time of 2:39.98.
Perhaps the best showing of the night for the Starfire girls came in the 50 yard freestyle. 27.57 seconds was the winning time for Ava Kinsey. GenaMarie Summersett held off Morgan DeHoff of Jay County for second place.
Similar to the 200 free, Litwiller beat a trio of Patriots for the title in the 100 yard butterfly. Her time of 1:16.55 gave her a cushion of 4.05 seconds.
Kinsey and Summersett went one-two in the 100 free. On the second lap of the swim, Kinsey doubled the lead of over three seconds that she constructed on the opening lap.
Summersett held off Zion Beiswanger of Jay County for third by 0.06 seconds.
The 500 free was one of the tightest races of the evening with only 3.31 seconds separating first and third.
Jay County swimmer Sophia Hoevel overtook teammate Lauren Fisher late in the race and held on for the win. A late surge nearly allowed Hill of South Adams to take second ahead of Fisher, but Fisher held on for the runner-up spot, beating Hill by 0.83 seconds.
South Adams got back in the win column in the 200 yard freestyle relay when the team of Litwiller, Arnold, Summersett and Kinsey put together a time of 1:57.02, 5.76 seconds better than the closest group of Patriots.
Scott placed second in the 100 backstroke.
1:19.80 was the winning time in the 100 yard breaststroke set by Arnold. She held a slim 0.05-second lead over Beiswanger at the turn, but she opened up the lead in the final stretch.
Arnold was a part of the South Adams team that won the 400 yard freestyle relay by 6.64 seconds. She was joined on that squad by Litwiller, Summersett and Kinsey.
South Adams got off to a flying start in the boys competition with a victory in the 200 yard medley relay. Braylon Schoch, Ian Neuenschwander, Brayden Hough and Haden Meyer outswam the two Jay County teams down the stretch to win by 0.45 seconds.
As was the case in the girls race, a Starfire was victorious in the boys 200 free. Haden Meyer knocked off four Patriots for the victory by 9.79 seconds.
Hough led throughout the 200 IM and won with a time of 2:34.48.
Neuenschwander was the winner of the 50 yard freestyle. He completed the sprint-style race in 26.72 seconds.
Neuenschwander almost won the 100 yard butterfly, but he lost out to David Keen of Jay County by 1.17 seconds.
Schoch was the runner-up in the 100 yard freestyle.
The girls 500 yard freestyle was decided by a matter of seconds. The same can be said about the boys race.
Competing head-tohead, it was Lincoln Clamme who completed the lengthy swim 1.23 seconds before Meyer.
Victory in the 200 yard freestyle relay was claimed by Starfires Schoch, Meyer, Hough and Neuenschwander.
Schoch was second in the 100 backstroke.
An impressive time of 1:15.96 gave Hough the win in the 100 yard breaststroke by 18.65 seconds.
After having Tuesday and Wednesday off, South Adams will return to competition when they host Norwell and Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.