Give them five

MUNCIE — Any team that had thoughts of ending the Patriots’ streak had them dashed in a hurry.
With its top six runners all in the top 12 after the first mile, the Jay County High School girls cross country team quickly took control of Tuesday’s sectional meet. It never faltered, packing five runners into the top 11 and rolling to its fifth straight sectional title.
The Patriot scored 36 points, finishing 21 ahead of runner-up Delta at The Water Bowl.
“The girls have a lot of pride in winning their fifth straight sectional,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy. “That goes back some of their sisters who are almost out of college now who started that. I think that’s just a really incredible thing to keep going.”
“I’m just glad to be a part of it,” said junior Liz Lennartz, who turned in the No. 5 time for the Patriots. “It’s something 10 or 20 years from now I’m going to look back and be really proud of it.”
Jay County, along with the other top five teams and top 15 individuals, advances to Saturday’s regional meet hosted by Delta at The Water Bowl at 10:30 a.m. It will be seeking its third consecutive regional title.
The Patriots became just the second team in school history to win five straight sectional titles in any sport. The wrestling team won 11 sectional championships in a row from 1978 to 1988.
JCHS did not have enough runners for a team score in the boys race, in which Muncie Central took the sectional title by 12 points over Delta.
Katie Simmons led the Jay County girls as she ran out to the front of the pack early on. She settled into a second place battle with Monroe Central junior Hailey Norris behind leader Whitney Wiist of Winchester, and stayed there for most of the race.Simmons cruised across the finish line in third place with a time of 21 minutes, 12 seconds behind Wiist (19:51) and Delta’s Emily Grider, who made a late charge for second in 21:01.
“I thought Katie did a really nice job,” said McEvoy. “She was the front-runner for us. She did a really good job of going out hard enough. Usually if she gets out hard, the rest of the girls will follow her. … That helped us get established. … It made everybody else play catch-up the entire race.
“Saturday is going to be a totally different game. … This is such a quick turn-around for a really tough race in that regional, which is going to be such a dogfight, that we tried not to run our guts out here today. Last year in our sectional we had amazing times and we really struggled to put that back together in the regional. … Hopefully this year we’ve got it flip-flopped and we’ll be ready for Saturday.”
The rest of the Patriot squad came across the finish line in quick intervals with junior Eme Miller, a first-year runner, in sixth place with a time of 21:59. Wellman was just three seconds behind her in seventh, and freshman Abigail Johnson placed ninth in 22:08.
Lennartz rounded out the team score in 11th at 22:16.
Jay  County also got strong efforts from its sixth and seventh runners, both crossed the finish line ahead of the No. 5 runner from every other team. Logan Laux was 18th in 22:59, and Miranda Gerber was one second behind her in 19th.
“They’re extremely important. We call them our ‘pushers’,” said McEvoy. “Their job out there is to push back as many points as they can. The more they can get up there and push back people’s fours and fives, the more successful you’re going to be. … Even though they’re not counting towards our score, they’re tacking on points to everyone else’s score. … Really that back half is what makes you good.”
Jay County’s sectional streak started with a 33-point win at Bellmont in 2006 with a team that included Wellman’s sister Kylie and Johnson’s sister Amanda among the top five runners. Miller’s sister Aly and Laux’s sister Cassie have also been part of the five titles in a row.
“It’s awesome. It’s great to carry on the tradition,” said Wellman. “My sister helped start it. Hopefully it’s something that will continue for years.
“I think it’s because we all want it for each other. We want to win for our teammates.”
In the boys race, freshman Chaz Carroll finished 62nd for the Patriots in the field of 84 runners with a time of 21:08. Zach Johnson was 81st in 24:07.[[In-content Ad]]