Back to semi-state

MUNCIE — No one was ever close to heavily-favored Pendleton Heights. But the Patriots outran three other contenders for second place.
Megan Wellman gave Jay County its lone top-10 finish and freshman Kiara Walter scored for the team for the first time this season as it totaled 97 points to edge Muncie Burris for the runner-up spot at Saturday’s regional meet hosted by Delta at Muncie Sportsplex.
The champion Arabians, who are ranked 14th in the state, had five runners in the top 10 as they cruised to the title with 28 points. Alex Buck led the team as she won the regional title by more than 30 seconds in 18 minutes, 53.89 seconds.
Muncie Burris, which finished second by 11 points to the Patriots at Tuesday’s sectional, was third with 98 points followed by Mount Vernon (102) and Yorktown (119).
“I thought we gave a good effort,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy, whose team earned a semi-state berth for the eighth straight season. “Overall, I was real pleased with the job the girls did. I’m really proud that we’ll be going to semi-state again. … Hopefully we go there and run well.”
The top five teams and top 10 individuals not on advancing teams earned a trip to the semi-state meet, which will be hosted by New Haven at 1 p.m. Saturday at IPFW.
Jay County’s boys season came to an end with Michael Denney finishing in 53rd place in the field of 88 runners. Mount Vernon (44) won the title led by individual champion Christian Noble ahead of Pendleton Heights (83), Wes-Del (117), Yorktown (125) and Wapahani (125).
The battle for the runner-up spot in the girls race behind Pendleton Heights came down to the fifth runners, and Walter rose to the occasion for the Patriots.
Walter, a freshman who had not scored for the team this season, headed toward the finish line with two Burris runners nearby. Lindsay Hagadorn of the Owls out-ran her for 40th place, but Walter took the next spot with her time of 22:34.98. She was nearly four seconds ahead of the Burris No. 5 runner — Andrea Munoz (43rd – 22:38.81) — to give Jay County its one-point margin for second place.
“She’s come on strong here at the end,” said McEvoy. “She’s only been on the varsity a couple weeks now, but she really stepped up big for us today. … That was really hard for a freshman to go do something like that at this level. I’m really proud of what she’s accomplished.”
The Patriots as a group were a bit slower than usual at the start, but by the mile mark their top runner had settled into the place she would hold for most of the race.
Megan Wellman, who led the team with a third-place finish at Tuesday’s sectional, was sixth at the mile with a trio of Pendleton Heights athletes in the group ahead of her. The sophomore was still sixth at the two-mile mark before slipping to seventh late as she just missed breaking the 20-minute mark with a time of 20:00.6.
“I thought Megan was really solid,” said McEvoy. “A big goal for her was the 19s. And she’s right on that threshold. I thought she ran a really smart race.”
Emi Minnich and Abigail Johnson ran opposing strategies for JCHS, with Minnich going out fast while Johnson took a more deliberate pace. They then traded places, with Johnson 14th at the mile mark while Minnich faded to 25th.
By the time they reached the home stretch they were side-by-side, with Minnich edging her teammate for 15th place in 20:50.6. Johnson was less than a second back with a time of 20:51.45 for 16th place.
“Emi Minnich has had a really good tournament for us this year,” said McEvoy. “She’s was kind of up-and-down a little earlier in the year, but now that we’re in the really important part of the season, she’s put together good times in the 20s.”
Kellie Fortkamp posted the No. 4 time for JCHS, finishing in 21:21.83 for 25th place, with Walter next in 41st. Also running for the Patriots were seniors Abbi Dunlavy (50th – 22:59.23) and Kaitlin Hemmelgarn (55th – 23:15.06).
Denney was near the back of the field in the boys race early, but made progress throughout. The sophomore climbed 17 places over the final two miles to finish in 18:59.54 for 53rd place.
“I hope he sees this level and hopefully it motivates him this summer to try to get to the semi-state level next year,” McEvoy said. “We’ll work towards that. Hopefully it was something he learns from.”[[In-content Ad]]