Jets and Starfires earn high marks at ACAC championships
Competing at the Allen County Athletic Conference swim meet at Jay County on Friday night, both the Adams Central Jets and South Adams Starfires turned in quality performances. Both the South Adams girls and Adams Central boys finished in second place in their respective competitions.
The Jay County girls were victorious in their home pool, finishing with a team score of 405. South Adams scored 297 points. The Jets were not far behind with 274. Bluffton was fourth with 183.
The Bluffton boys flipped the script by scoring 508 points to win their competition. 285 points landed Adams Central in second place. The Jets edged out Jay County for the runner-up spot. The Patriots ended the night with 270 points. South Adams finished fourth with 134.
The action began with diving. Damon Light got Adams Central off to a magnificent start when he broke his own six-dive school record en route to becoming an ACAC champion. His final score of 232.35 gave him a 60.35-point lead at the end of the competition.
Maddy Snow of Jay County was the diving champion for the girls. Right behind her in second place was KayLynn Grush of South Adams.
Adams Central won the first swimming event of the night by a tight margin. 0.15 seconds separated Adams Central and Jay County in the girls 200 yard medley relay. Baylee Smith, Savannah Hendricks, Kate Moser and Brooke Thomas placed first.
The Jets turned in another impressive swim in the boys 200 yard medley relay. Logan Clark, Owen Connelley, Eli Wellman and Ethan Crockett finished second behind only Bluffton.
South Adams placed third in the same event. Ian Neuenschwander, Brayden Hough, Braylon Schoch and Haden Meyer earned a time of 1:58.58.
Ava Kinsey became a conference champion in the girls 200 yard freestyle. Her winning time was 2:10.98. Brooke Thomas of Adams Central finished as the runner-up.
Three of the top four swimmers in the boys 200 free came from Bluffton. Ashton Arnett won the event. Crockett of Adams Central placed fifth, finishing 0.09 seconds ahead of Meyer of South Adams.
Julia Arnold won the girls 200 yard IM with a time of 2:34.82.
After Isaac Wheeler of Bluffton, Hough placed second in the boys 200 IM.
The two Adams County rivals swept the top three of the girls 50 yard freestyle. Addison Gilbert won after she completed the race in 27.07 seconds. Genamarie Summersett of South Adams took home second place. Third went to Smith of Adams Central.
Clark of the Jets was victorious in the boys 50 free.
Moser kept the Jets rolling when she timed a 1:07.65 to win the girls 100 yard butterfly.
After Wheeler and Arnett of Bluffton, Connelley earned third place for the Jets in the boys 100 butterfly. He was followed by Neuenschwander.
Ellie Coyne of Bluffton won the girls 100 yard freestyle. Kinsey placed second in the 100 free. Third place went to Thomas.
Bluffton swimmers Noah Brooks and Rhett Gerber went one-two in the boys 100 free. Schoch claimed third place.
Julia Arnold won the girls 500 yard freestyle by nearly 10 seconds.
Crockett had the best placing amongst the Adams County contingent in the boys 500 free, earning fifth place.
The Jets and Starfires were excellent in the girls 200 yard freestyle relay.
Gilbert, Moser, Smith and Thomas carried Adams Central to first place. The South Adams team of Summersett, Litwiller, Arnold and Kinsey followed in second place.
The Jets narrowly missed out on winning the boys 200 free relay. Connelley, Crockett, Wellman and Clark finished the race 0.24 seconds after the first of two Bluffton teams.
Moser was the winner of the girls 100 yard backstroke. She recorded a time of 1:07.73.
Clark placed second in the boys 100 yard backstroke behind Brooks of Bluffton.
Bluffton swimmer Coyne won the girls 100 yard breaststroke. Hendricks earned fourth place.
Hough grinded out a win for the Starfires in the boys 100 yard breaststroke. He held off Elija Robles of Bluffton by 0.26 seconds for the conference title.
The Starfires were crowned ACAC champions in the girls 400 yard freestyle relay. Summersett, Litwiller, Arnold and Kinsey preserved a lead of nearly nine seconds at the end of the race. Danica Michaels, Jenna Cook, Ella Bluhm and Gilbert placed third for the Jets.
Bluffton teams placed first and second in the boys 400 free relay. Jets Titus Morgan, Tristen Morgan, Treyton Tomkinson and Tristen Wurm claimed third.*