Jay tops 'Cats

With a 24-1 record and a victory at the Muncie Southside Invitational, the Patriots had already firmly established themselves as the sectional favorite.
In their final home meet Tuesday, they reiterated that status against their main rival for the title.
With sweeps in three events, Jay County’s girls picked up their 25th victory 69-42 over the visiting Muncie Central Bearcats.
“The sectional right now, on paper, is going to come down to us and them,” said JCHS girls coach Brian McEvoy, whose team defeated Central by 50 points to win the 2010 sectional after finishing one-fifth of a point behind the Bearcats a year earlier. “It’s important to see where we’re at, especially being this close to the sectional. It was a pretty good measuring stick. … I thought overall it was a pretty nice meet for our girls.”
The Patriot boys swept the throwing events, but were shut out in the relays in a 67-47 loss to Central.
“It wasn’t bad for taking on one of the top two teams in the sectional,” said Jay County boys coach Greg Garringer, who ranks the Bearcats and Delta as the top two tournament teams. “We went 0-for-3 in the relays, which really hurt us. … That was the difference tonight.”
The Jay County girls were typically strong in the field events, taking 26 of the 27 possible points.
(There was no high jump because of poor conditions after a storm came through the area just prior to the meet.)
Maria Murphy continued her undefeated streak in leading a sweep of the discus at 120 feet, 2 inches. Senior Cara Garringer was second at 95 feet, and Sara Lennartz took third at 79 feet, 5 inches.
Murphy also dominated the shot put by nearly four feet to win at 39 feet, 6½ inches. Garringer again was the runner-up at 35 feet, 10¼ inches.
“All of her throws were between 37 and 39 (feet),” said McEvoy of Murphy. “That’s the kind of effort it’s going to take to win the sectional. That’s something that she felt kind of bad about last year is that she fell a little short of that goal. She’s working really hard to accomplish that.
“She’s had a really good season for us. She’s ready for a sectional championship.”
Jordan McMillan, a senior, grabbed the third field-event victory for the Patriots in the high jump at 5 feet. Cierra Barcus finished second at 4 feet, 10 inches, and Abbi Dunlavy was third at 4 feet, 6 inches.
JCHS also nabbed all of the points in the 1,600-meter run as senior Leah Wellman finished in 5 minutes, 44 seconds to lead the way. Kassi Hemmelgarn followed at 5:50, Liz Lennartz finished in 6:11 and Tiffany Huelskamp was fourth in 6:16.
McMillan, who has battled a right ankle injury, added a second victory with a time of 12.9 in the 100 dash.
The Patriot boys dominated the throwing events with Tyler Back taking the top spot in the shot put at 43 feet, 2 inches. Karlos Harper was second at 39 feet, 9 inches, and Zach Cash took third at 38 feet, 1 inch.
Taylor Hatzell was first with a toss of 110 feet, 2 inches in the discus ahead of Back (109 feet, 10 inches) and Harper (105 feet, 8 inches).
“Field events went well,” said Garringer. “We had good nights out of Back, Cash, Harper and Hatzell in the throws. (They) have really improved.”
Katie Simmons recorded another career-best time for the Jay County girls in the 3,200 run, dropping two seconds to finish in 12:02. Eme Miller was the runner-up in 13:16.
Morgan Link followed up on her runner-up finish at the Blackford Invitational to win the 100 hurdles against Central in 18.1. Kim Braun was the runner-up in 18.8.
Braun, a senior, took the top spot in the 300 hurdles in 52.5.
“This senior class has just been phenomenal,” said McEvoy, noting the group’s 150-12 record over the last four seasons. “The girls do things right. They’re great leaders. They’ve made a big investment into our program. They’ve been extremely successful.
“They’ve done it by being great teammates and working hard.”
Cash was the only double winner for the Patriot boys as he swept the hurdles. He took the 110-meter event in 17.7 with teammate Zane Shreve second in 18.1, and won the 300 in 43.5.
“He’s (been) running in the 41s — 41 to 40 is where we want to get him,” said Garringer. “Hopefully he gets to do some neat things at sectional and regional. That 40-second time barrier is what we’ve got to get through.”
Runner-up efforts came from Blake Crouch (100 dash), Brad Leuthold (800 run), Dylan Cope (1,600 run) and Cade Price (high jump).[[In-content Ad]]