Depth beats Bellmont

Bellmont sent six girls to the state finals in 2013, finishing third as a team. It entered Thursday’s meet ranked 16th in the state.
But the Patriots’ team depth overpowered the Squaws’ top-level talent.
Jay County won just five events compared to Bellmont’s 10, but stacked up second- and third-place finishes to eke out a two-point victory.
“We talked about this being a precursor to winning the sectional because we knew coming in we weren’t going to have the top individual athletes in a lot of different races,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy. “They’re a really strong team. If we were going to get it done, it was going to be solely on our depth.”
The Patriots (4-0) took the runner-up spot in eight events and finished third in nine as they scored 73 points to knock off Bellmont (71) while the Adams Central Flying Jets finished a distant third with nine.
Jay County’s boys scored 60.3 points to finish as the runner-up behind Adams Central (69). Bellmont scored 26.7 points.
“We were a little flat tonight on some of it,” said JCHS coach Greg Garringer. “AC’s got a pretty decent team. They’re pretty solid.
“In the first week to go 3-1, I can’t complain. The kids are doing well. We’re young.
“We’re going in the right direction.”
While depth carried the day for the Patriots, a couple of one-two finishes were key to their slim victory.
The first came in the 100-meter dash, in which senior Tasya Smith was in the lead throughout. She cruised to the victory by more than four tenths of a second in 13.3 seconds.
Emma Laux, a sophomore, was in a battle for the runner-up spot and edged Bellmont’s Taylor Erxleben for second in 13.71.
“That was a huge step for them,” said McEvoy. “We kind of felt like sprints were going to be somewhere where we were going to have an advantage this year. We’ve got a lot of experience there. … That was definitely a turning point. They did an awesome job.”
Smith and Laux also joined Taylor Homan and Lexi Myers for first in the 4x100 relay in 54.5 seconds.
Malarie Houck, the team’s top scorer on the evening, led the other one-two finish in the 300 hurdles. She and freshman teammate Britlyn Dues were in front all the way, with Houck winning in 50.68 seconds while Dues placed second in 51.59.
Houck, a junior, added a runner-up finish in the 100 hurdles, and was third in the long jump.
Hurdles and field events proved to be the strength of the Patriot boys, with seniors Zane Shreve and Andrew Eley setting the pace.
Shreve was a bit sluggish out of the blocks in the 110 hurdles, but he still led at the first hurdle and never slowed down the rest of the night. He took the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.32 seconds and then dominated the 300 hurdles for a victory by nearly two seconds in 43.12.
His third win came in the high jump as he was the only athlete to clear the bar at 5 feet, 10 inches.
Eley handled the throwing events for Jay County, taking first in the discus at 130 feet, 2 inches, and the shot put at 43 feet, 11 ½ inches.
“(Shreve) was a little disappointed he got beat in the 110s on Tuesday,” said Garringer. “That kind of spurred him on.
“(Eley) was upset Tuesday night because (teammate Wil) Watson beat him in the shot put. He said, ‘He will not beat me the rest of the season.’ So, we’ll see if that happens or not.”
Fellow senior J.D. Mangas took the long jump by just a quarter inch over teammate Nathan Heitkamp at 18 feet, 10 ½ inches, to complete the JCHS boys’ sweep of the field events.
Ciera Barcus picked up the only other individual win for the Jay County girls team with a leap of 4 feet, 10 inches, in the high jump, and was also second in the long jump. The Patriots’ other victory came in the meet-opening 4x800 relay.
Hannah Lykins and Abigail Johnson each finished second in one event and third in another, and McKensie Muhlenkamp and Amber Huelskamp also added second-place finishes. Abbi Dunlavy had two third-place efforts while Emi Minnich, Morgan Brown, Laux and Homan each added one.
Bellmont’s Holly Hankenson, who finished in the top four in the state in the 100 hurdles (second), long jump (third) and 300 hurdles (fourth), last season, took the top spot in the 100 hurdles, long jump, 200 dash and 400 dash. State qualifier Bailey Beery and Kenzie Funk added two victories apiece.
“You’re looking at a team that is going to go to the state finals and they’re going to medal in a lot of different things,” said McEvoy. “The more teams we can run with that caliber of athletes, it’s going to make us better … It’s an important building stone.”

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