Jay, Fort take second

Second was the place to be for the local girls teams Saturday at the Jay County Invitational.
The host Patriots finished as the runners-up in the Open Division, scoring 44 points to finish behind champion Leo (30) in the six-team field.
Fort Recovery’s girls finished just six-points behind Hagerstown with 47 in the seven-team Closed Division.
In the Closed Division boys race Fort Recovery scored 113 points for third out of 11 teams. St. Henry won with 29, and Northeastern was second with 54.
“I love Jay County,” said FRHS coach Michelle Stammen after her team’s first appearance in the event. “The girls ran really well. I think all of them either ran their (best time of the season) or tied it.
“All of my boys had (personal bests) for the season and ran incredibly well. So I could not be more proud.
“I am over the moon today. It’s awesome.”
Junior Katie Simmons led the Patriots to their runner-up finish, running near the front of the field throughout the race. By the mid-point of the race she was third running just ahead of Emily Johnson from Leo.
The two runners stayed neck-and-neck most of the way with Johnson finishing third in 19 minutes, 53 seconds and Simmons fourth in 20 minutes flat.
Leah Wellman followed in fifth place for Jay County in 20:29. It was her best time of the season.
“Katie was mentally very tough today,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy of Simmons, who turned in a career-best time. “We’ve ran with Leo a couple of times this year and we knew they were pretty tough. Katie has really closed that gap on some of their front runners. That just shows her progress after getting hurt. …
“Leah (Wellman) is one of the best leaders I’ve had in any sport, ever. She knows how to get the job done, and she’s so tough. … She battles. … She just fights tooth and nail.”
Fort Recovery’s Elle Sutter had never broken the 21-minute mark, but did so easily in lead the Tribe girls.
She turned in a fifth-place finish in 20:27, barely missing fourth place as Ashley Mosley of Northeastern squeaked past her at the line.
Abby May just barely missed breaking the 21-minute mark as she placed seventh in 21:01.
Stammen said the competition between Sutter and May, who were close throughout most of the race, and her group as a whole has helped the team.
“They are great teammates, but they are also great competitors. So they just help each other,” she said. “We are a really close-knit team, which makes us stronger. But they are also very competitive within the group, which also makes us stronger.”
Following Simmons and Wellman, first-year runners Eme Miller and Abigail Johnson gave Jay County two more competitors in the top 10. The junior and freshman respectively ran next to each other from start to finish with Miller barely edging her teammate at the line for ninth place as they both recorded times of 21:16.
Logan Laux rounded out the team score for the Patriots in 16th at 22:02.
“We try to have a certain time for our top five and a certain time for our top seven, and that margin of difference is pretty small,” said McEvoy who also had Miranda Gerber in 18th at 22:12 and Liz Lennartz in 19th at 22:18. “Logan and Liz and Miranda have been solid there. They push each other through the course. … That’s going to be really the difference. The regional and the sectional we know is going to be a very, very tight battle, tighter than it’s been. … Those spots can be the difference.”
Samantha Tobe and Jessica Vogel finished back-to-back for Fort Recovery in 10th and 11th respectively, turning in times of 21:43 and 21:44. Alexis Sutter edged Nicole Heitkamp for the final scoring spot for the Tribe, edging her teammate by one second for 14th place in 22:09.
Abby Huelskamp was 30th with a time of 23:28.
Senior Ryan Heitkamp led the FRHS boys to their third-place finish by taking ninth in 17:19.
“He’s never broke 18 minutes. He’s just had an excellent season,” said Stammen of Heitkamp. “He’s been a good leader for the team, and everyone else on the team looks up to him. Talk about a workhorse, he does my practice and then goes out and practices after that and runs even more. … He’s been very impressive.”
Caleb Heitkamp was 22nd in 18:11, and Derek Sutter finished two seconds behind him in 23rd.
Nathan Fullenkamp took 26th in 18:18, and Calvin Kaiser was 33rd in 18:49. Joey Gonzalez finished 48th in 19:58.
In the boys Open Division race, Jay County’s Chaz Carroll was 33rd out of 35 runners in 20:57. Zach Johnson placed 34th in 21:50.

Junior varsity
Christen Wendel picked up the victory in the girls race for Fort Recovery with a time of 22:33.
Julie Valentine and Kaitlin Hemmelgarn of Jay County were second and third respectively in 22:53 and 23:09. Marshall Hull turned in the top effort in the boys race, taking 12th for the Indians in 20:15.
Following Wendel for the Tribe girls were Mariah Koester 910th - 24:12), Kendra Brunswick (11th - 24:40), Claire Wendel (12th - 24:42), Hilary Pottkotter (21st - 25:51), Hannah Bihn (29th - 27:41) and Brenda Link (32nd - 28:57).
Jay County’s Megan Price was sixth in 23:48, and Madison Clott finished 24th in 26:05.
Trailing Hull for FRHS in the boys race were Isaac Keller (18th - 20:48) and Adam Pohl (22nd - 21:09).[[In-content Ad]]