Jay girls top Devils

It's a bit of a broken record for the Jay County High School girls track team. But once again Tuesday, distance dominance proved the key.

The Patriot girls swept the 800-meter run, the 1,600 and the 3,200 and took the top spot in the 4x400 and 4x800 relays to power an 81-42 victory over the visiting Richmond Red Devils.

"Our distance group did a really good job tonight," said JCHS girls coach Brian McEvoy, whose team has bounced back to win five straight since dropping its season opener to South Adams. "They ran well. ... They've got a really big challenge on Thursday (against Delta and Yorktown), so that's what we're getting ready for. ... Overall, they had a really nice meet."

Jay County's boys slipped to 0-6 with a 68-55 loss.

"We've been close," said Patriot boys coach Greg Garringer. "We haven't been blown off the track this year, but we just don't have a one-two punch in a lot of our events. We just have one guy there who is scoring consistently. ...

"It's discouraging to get another loss in stead of a W. ...

"We're just going to keep plugging away."

Katie Simmons was one of two double winners for the Patriot girls as she led the distance crew against Richmond.

The sophomore led sweeps in both of her events, winning the 1,600-meter run by eight seconds over teammates Eme Miller and Kari Hemmelgarn in 5 minutes, 55 seconds. She posted a time of 2:43.5 in the 800 run by four seconds over Miller with Liz Lennartz in third place.

Leah Wellman, a junior, led the third distance sweep, taking the 3,200 run in 13:18 ahead of Aly Miller and Logan Laux.

"Leah Wellman did a nice job in the two mile," said McEvoy. "She ran a real nice race, cut a bunch of time. Her shins are a little sore right now and she fought through that.

"Eme Miller had a really nice meet for us with her second place in the mile (and the 800)."

Wellman, Hemmelgarn, Lennartz and Eme Miller also won the 4x800 relay in 12 minutes flat, and Hemmelgarn, Macey Gerber, Megan Taylor and Kim Braun posted a winning time of 4:44 in the 4x400 relay.

Gerber kept her undefeated streak in tact in the 400 dash as she finished in 1:07.8 with teammate Julie Valentine in second place.

"Macey is just so solid in that event you just kind of expect it to happen," said McEvoy. "She works really hard at it. She's not what you would picture as a 400 runner - she's a little shorter - but her leg turnover is just incredible. ... She's somebody that's very solid for us."

Maria Murphy, a sophomore also stayed perfect on the year with victories in the shot put and discus as Jay County doubled up the Red Devils 24-12 in the field events.

Murphy tossed the discus 107 feet, 2 inches to take first place, and outdistanced the field by more than four feet in the shot put at 35 feet, ½ inch.

Kelsey Wood led a sweep of the high jump at 5 feet ahead of Jordan McMillan and Katie Snyder.

Senior Tevan Nichols again set the tone for the boys team, throwing himself into a third distance race in an effort to help the Patriots pick up their first win of the year.

After winning the 800 run in 2:12, the 1,600 in 4:43 and teaming with Patrick Johnson, Brad Leuthold and Dylan Cope to take the 4x800 relay, Nichols asked to compete in the 3,200 run as well.

He cruised to his third individual victory in that event in 10:45.

"He brought up the concept late in the meet (of running the 3,200)," said Garringer, complimenting Nichols' leadership. "He said, 'Coach, maybe we can go one-two, or one-two-three.' ...

"He's pretty consistent. I think he'll score some big points at sectional ...

"He's having a heck of a year right now."

Jay County picked up two other individual wins, with Joe Imel rallying in the final 50 meters to edge teammate Zach Cash for the top spot in the 300 hurdles in 44.2. The Patriots also took the top two spots in the shot put with Patrick Williams (40 feet, 7 ½ inches) first and Kyler Blowers send.

Wil Skiver was second behind Nichols in the 800 run, and Austin Bentz was the runner-up in the 1,600 run.

"We had a couple of young guys step up a little bit," said Garringer. "Joe Imel had a nice meet. Willie Skiver came up and snuck a second in the 800. We had some bright spots there.

"(Imel) probably our No. 1 or 2 100 meter guy. But he wanted to try the hurdles this year. ... In the relays he's got good splits. He's starting to really shine right now."[[In-content Ad]]