Jay track tops Tribe

Fort Recovery's Aaron Vagedes and Holly Brunswick were the big individual winners, but it was the Patriots who walked away with the team victories.

Jay County's girls won their ninth straight since their season-opening loss to South Adams, overcoming Brunswick's three first-place efforts for a 79-44 triumph. The Patriot boys picked up their third victory of the season despite four wins from Vagedes to take the meet 67-55.

"We did what we had to do," said JCHS boys coach Greg Garringer, whose teams other wins have come over Yorktown and Mississinewa. "It wasn't pretty because ... we didn't have any spectacular times. ... I thought we did an OK job tonight."

Zach Cash and Maria Murphy were the only double winners for JCHS, with Murphy keeping her undefeated streak alive in the throwing events.

The sophomore led a Patriot sweep in the shot put at 34 feet, 9 ¼ inches, winning by nearly seven feet over teammates Abby Denney and Kelsey Wood. She also took the discus by nearly 20 feet at 109 feet, 6 inches.

"Maria has done a really nice job for us in shot and disc," said JCHS girls coach Brian McEvoy.

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"It's been a tremendous asset to have (two-time state shot put champion) Kerri (McClung) George as a part of our coaching staff. Maria is learning (a lot) from her."

Cash finished first in the 110-meter hurdles ahead of Fort Recovery's Michael Cotterman in 16.7 seconds. The junior also took the top spot in the 300 hurdles in 44.7.

Willie Skiver stepped into the top spot in the 800 run for a victory in 2 minutes, 26 seconds, Gary Corle took the 100 dash in 11.6 and Tevan Nichols was first in the 1,600 run in 4:57.

"Skiver jumped into the 800 and he kind of pulled a surprise win," said Garringer, noting that he kept Nichols out of the event because of injury issues. "Cash stayed consistent ... and won both hurdle races."

Vagedes had a mammoth day for Indians, picking up race victories in the 200 dash in 24.6 and the 400 dash with a time of 55.2. He also led Fort Recovery to a dominant effort in the field events with leaps of 5 feet, 8 inches in the high jump and 18 feet, 11 inches in the long jump.

Mark Mattraw, who is scheduled to sign today to play football at the University of Toledo, took the other two field events with tosses of 40 feet, 10 inches in the shot put and 126 feet, 2 inches in the discus.

Jacob Pohl picked up the other FRHS win in the 3,200 run in 11:08.

"Both of those two athletes are solid," said FRHS coach Chris Sommers of Vagedes and Mattraw. "Mattraw has been really throwing well. ... Vagedes is just an athlete. He's good at whatever you put him in."

Brunswick match Vagedes' wins in the jumps, edging the Patriots' Jordan McMillan in both events.

In the long jump, the juniors opened with identical leaps of 15 feet, ¾ inches, but Brunswick was eventually able to edge McMillan by 2 ½ inches at 15 feet, 3 ½ inches. And in the high jump, Brunswick cleared the bar at 5 feet even on her final attempt to win the event by two inches over McMillan.

Brunswick also took the 100 hurdles in 16.9 seconds, and ran the lead-off leg for the Tribe's winning 4x100 relay team.

"That's kind of become the norm for Holly," said Sommers. She's been consistently winning her three individual events, and she's a big part of the reason our 4x100 team is so good this year. ...

"Holly's a great athlete and a great competitor."

Abby May, also part of the 4x100 relay team, turned in the other individual win for FRHS in the 300 hurdles in 49.1.

Macey Gerber continued her perfect streak in the 400 dash for Jay County, keeping her unbeaten season in tact with a time of 1:06.1. McMillan took the 100 dash in 12.7 seconds, and Kari Hemmelgarn took the top spot in the 800 run in the final home meet of her career in 2 minutes, 43.3 seconds.

"Kari Hemmelgarn had a really nice night for us," said McEvoy. "In the 4x800 she ran a really smart race. She was down and made a nice pass for us and gave us the lead on her leg. And she ran a really nice 800."

Leah Wellman surged from third place to lead a sweep of the 1,600 run in 5:51 ahead of Katie Simmons and Eme Miller. Aly Miller took the 3,200 run in 13:33, and Katie Snyder was first in the 200 dash at 28.3.[[In-content Ad]]