Swimmers from across the area are lined up to compete in Thursday night’s opening prelims at Jay County High School, taking a season’s worth of preparation and attempting to qualify for Saturday’s finals.
The Psych sheets have been distributed to WZBD, but coaches will still have decisions to make about which swimmers go in which events.
Here is a look at some of the top contenders from Z Land:
200 Medley Relay
The Norwell Knights boast the top time in this event by 1.5 seconds over Huntington North. The team of Jillian Melcher, Marlee Meredith, Emerson Meredith and Ella Krug will attempt to make it three straight years of winning this event and heading to the State Finals.
Adams Central and Bellmont are both likely to make the A Final based on their respective finals times at their own conference meets.
200 Free
Delta freshman Alivia Jackson is five seconds faster than the rest of the field in seed time with a whopping 2:01.95 time. The last two sectionals have been won with a time of 2:05.
Ava Kinsey will be a contender for a top four spot for South Adams.
200 IM
This event could be one of the best finals on Saturday, with basically a coin flip set to decide the difference between two juniors: Annika Carpenter of Huntington North and Annie Jackson of Delta. Both have had to wait for Mara Bader of Jay County to graduate to have their chance at a state berth in the medley. The pair is five seconds ahead of anyone else in the field.
Norwell’s Ella Krug and Marlee Meredith could both make the A Final, as could South Adams’ Julia Arnold.
50 Free
Defending champion Eleanor Groves of Delta is the favorite with a seed time (23.69) already faster than her winning time in 2023 and two seconds faster than Jillian Melcher of Norwell. The three Adams County schools all have a contender for the A Final with Madison Witte (Bellmont), Addison Gilbert (AC) and GenaMarie Summersett (SA) seeded 6th, 7th and 8th, respectively.
1M Diving
KayLynn Grush is the only Adams County diver competing, according to the sheets, while Norwell will have Emerson Meredith and Jacquelyn Meyer.
100 Fly
Annie Jackson, a junior from Delta, is the two-time defending champion in this event and more than 4.5 seconds clear in seeding over Ella Krug of Norwell.
Kate Moser of AC has the fourth-best time.
100 Free
Groves is also the defending champion and favorite in the 100, with more than 4.5 seconds of space between herself and second-place Emerson Meredith of Norwell.
Ava Kinsey should have a shot at the A Final, as well as Adams Central’s Brooke Thomas and Addison Gilbert.
500 Free
Adams County was represented at the state meet in each of the last two years by South Adams’ Maggie Nussbaum, but this race looks like it will belong to Delta freshman Alivia Jackson, who has gone 5:38 already this year. Cassie Coyne of Norwell swam a 5:51 against Concordia earlier this year and is seeded second.
South Adams’ Julia Arnold clocked her best time against Blackford with a 5:56 and could put pressure on Jackson.
200 Free Relay
This race is likely to be won by Delta again this year, although Hutington North and Norwell could also contend.
100 Back
Annika Carpenter of Huntington North has absolutely dominated this event locally for the past three seasons and she will try to make it three years in a row of winning the backstroke Saturday. She carries a half-second advantage in seed time over Delta’s Lora Warner. Jillian Melcher of Norwell is three seconds behind that pair and Kate Moser of AC is just behind Melcher.
100 Breast
Jay County swimmers have won this event for the past three years but this year there seems to be a good chance of a new champion, with Gabriella Coyne, a freshman from Bluffton, boasting the top seed time. Marlee Meredith is 2.5 seconds behind her for Norwell and could also compete for a spot at State.
400 Free Relay
Delta’s seed time puts them in range to clock a similar time to last year’s sectional-winning time.
The South Adams team of GenaMarie Summersett, Nia Litwiller, Julia Arnold and Ava Kinsey will be right on their tails, however, with the second seed.