Cash, Imel set to lead JC boys

The Patriots have been among the best teams in the sectional.
After finishing in the middle of the pack in 2005 and ’06, the Jay County boys track team has posted top-four finishes in four straight seasons. The run includes a sectional title in 2009, a year after it finished as runner-up to Muncie Southside.
As the squad tries to continue to be one of the better teams in the area, it will count on a pair of seniors to lead the way.
Zach Cash and Joe Imel are the only two returning athletes who competed in the regional in individual events last season.
“They’ve been in the system for four years,” said JCHS coach Greg Garringer, noting that both athletes are looking to continue their track careers in college. “They know what we expect without being told. … It’s going to be pretty tough to replace guys like that.”
Cash was the team’s top athlete last season, leading the team in scoring at the sectional meet hosted by Southside with third-place efforts in both the 110-meter hurdles and the 300 hurdles. He went on to a 12th-place finish in the 300-meter event at the loaded North Central regional.
“We’ve been pretty consistent the last several years with (2008 state medalist Brandon) Reynard and Cash,” said Garringer.
After finishing fifth in the sectional in the 300 hurdles, Imel made it to the regional as an alternate in the event.
Cash and Imel also teamed with Brad Leuthold and then-senior Patrick Johnson for a runner-up sectional effort in the 4x400 relay. And Imel joined Blake Crouch, Gary Corle and then-senior Patrick Williams to finish fourth in the sectional in the 4x100 relay.
“He’s a pretty solid kid,” said Garringer of Imel. “We used him last year in the hurdles, but his senior year we’re going to keep him specialized in the sprints.
‘We’ve got a pretty solid group of guys (in the sprints),” he added, also mentioning Crouch and Corle. “We’ve got five or six we can interchange in the 4x100.”
Only two other athletes return to the team after scoring in the sectional in individual events last season.
Leuthold, a junior, placed eighth for the Patriots in the 400 dash last season. He will lead them in that event again this year.
And sophomore Dylan Cope also turned in an eighth-place finish, picking up a point for JCHS in the 3,200 run. Garringer said Cope could run the 3,200 again, but will also figure into the mix in the 800 and 1,600 as the team tries to replace the points lost from 2010 graduate Tevan Nichols.
Junior Stephen Scott, a first-year runner, will also contribute in the distance events.
Garringer said he hopes a combination of athletes will be able to score points for the Patriots in the field events, which were a relative weakness for the team last season.
The trio of Raistlin Rice, Cade Price and Zane Shreve is working at the high jump, and Corle, Imel and Rice will compete in the long jump. Karlos Harper, Taylor Hatzell and Tyler Back will power JCHS in the throwing events.
“Gary Corle is definitely going to be a 19-foot (long) jumper for us this year,” said Garringer. “We’re hoping to get him over the 20-foot mark.
“I think Tyler Back is going to be one of our best (in the shot put), with him and Harper hitting that 40-foot mark. … We’ve just got to go one step at a time. We want to start hitting 40 consistently and then go from there.”
Garringer, whose team dropped its season opener to South Adams, noted that the lineup is a work in progress during the first part of the season. The Patriots will hope to find their roles by the beginning of May with the focus on another strong performance in the sectional tournament.
“Every year we always shoot … to be .500 or better as far as our record,” said Garringer. “We always want to be in the top four in sectional, which I think we’re capable of doing. I think Central and Delta by far will be the two top teams, but I think we can be that number three or four team there.”[[In-content Ad]]