Jay 2nd at Celina

CELINA, Ohio — The theme of the day was improvement.
Jay County’s Katie Simmons is off to the best start of her career.
Fort Recovery’s Jessica Vogel moved up to run side-by-side with teammate and 2010 state qualifier Elle Sutter.
And both schools’ boys teams continued to make strides.
Simmons’ effort was the best of the group as she led the Patriot girls to a runner-up finish in the Green (big school) race at Saturday’s Celina Rotary Invitational. JCHS scored 48 points to finish behind the host Bulldogs (39) in the eight-team field in the event at Wright State University’s Lake Campus.
“It was a big improvement from Tuesday,” said Patriot coach Brian McEvoy in reference to his team’s third-place finish at the season-opening Bellmont Invitational. “We’ve got to stay packed really tight, and we did a lot better job of that today than we did on Tuesday. Hopefully we can just keep pushing along.”
The Fort Recovery girls were third behind Division III No. 2 Coldwater (26) and Fort Loramie (45) with 85 points in the seven-team White (small school) race.
“All of my runners ran extremely well,” said FRHS coach Michelle Stammen. “My top seven were tough. For us to finish third behind those two, I think we’re in a great spot at this point in the season.”
The Tribe boys scored 163 points for sixth place in the White race, while the Jay County boys tallied 212 points for seventh in the Green race.
Simmons immediately ran out to the lead in the girls Green race, and by the 2K mark she and Celina’s Hannah Fleck were in a battle for first place well ahead of the rest of the field. Fleck was able to take control and pull away to win in 19 minutes, 55 seconds, but Simmons ran more than a minute faster than last season for the runner-up spot in 20:48.
Celina’s Andrea Bell was a distant third in 21:14.
“Katie ran an excellent race today,” said McEvoy. “She’s minutes ahead of where she’s ever been in her career at this point in the cross country season. She’s going to be a front-runner wherever she goes … We’re really excited to see what she’s going to be able to accomplish this year.”
Sutter, Vogel and Abby May were all in a group of runners between 15th and 20th trailing the lead pack early in the girls White race, but Sutter and Vogel gradually moved up as the race went along. By the 3K mark they were up to 13th and 14th, and Sutter surged past Fort Loramie’s Kylie Drees at the finish line for 11th in 22:11.
Vogel was just four seconds behind in 13th, and May placed 21st in 22:59.
“I love seeing Jessica Vogel up there with Elle Sutter,” said Stammen, noting that Vogel hit a turning point Thursday when she ran with Sutter at practice. “They were a positive duo together. I think they pushed each other …
“Abby May is fighting a hip injury right now, and for her to finish right outside the top 20 was awesome.”
Jay County had six runners in the top 20, including three in the top 10. Eme Miller held her position all the way for eighth place in 22:20, and Abigail Johnson fought off Hannah Tobin of Memorial (St. Marys) and Katlin Robinson of the host Bulldogs for 10th in 22:44.
Liz Lennartz was 14th in 23:11, Miranda Gerber capped the team score in 18th at 24:20 and Kaitlin Hemmlegarn took 19th in 24:15.
Following the top three for Fort Recovery were Nicole Heitkamp in 27th at 23:19 and Sam Tobe in 28th at 23:33.
Tribe sophomore Derek S. Sutter turned in the top effort for the area boys teams, cutting more than 30 seconds from Monday’s season-opening Mercer County Meet to place 17th in 18:34. Derek J. Sutter was 28th in 19:42.
Joey Gonzalez placed 40th in 20:34, Nathan Fullenkamp was one second behind in 42nd and Mitchell Homan hacked more than three minutes from the season-opener for 44th in 20:42.
“I am thrilled,” said Stammen. “They had an awesome race. … They made definite improvements over the county meet.
“For some of my runners new to cross country, like Mitchell Homan, Monday was a learning experience … He had a beautiful race today.”
Dylan Cope paced the Jay County boys in 27th at 19:27, and Stephen Scott was 30 seconds behind him in 31st. Chaz Carroll placed 61st in 21:53, Jacob Nichols was 70th in 22:26 and Wiley Young finished 19th in 25:08.
“Overall I was pleased with their effort,” McEvoy said. “They’re definitely putting forth the work in practice. We’re going to see a lot more success out of them as the year progresses.”

Middle school
Caitlyn Huelskamp dominated the field again to lead the Fort Recovery girls, who scored 91 points to finish second out of nine teams behind Fort Loramie (51).
The boys team was 11th out of 13 with 254 points.
Huelskamp, who won Monday’s season-opening Mercer County Meet, cut 23 seconds as she rolled to victory in 13 minutes, 17 seconds. St. Henry’s Lindsey Schulze was the runner-up in 13:54.
Angela Heitkamp joined Huelskamp in the top 10 in seventh place at 14:21. Grace Gehle was 27th in 15:34 followed by Cori Stone (33rd – 15:55) and Chassity Hemmelgarn (34th – 16:05).
Anthony Jutte crossed the finish line in 13:26 for 18th place to lead the Tribe boys.
Isaac Siegrist was 27th in 13:55 ahead of Nick Litmer (82nd – 17:08), Ty Francis (83rd – 17:13) and Rodney Hemmert (99th – 20:00).[[In-content Ad]]