Liechty third for SA

FORT WAYNE — No Starfire had ever made it to the state finals.
With his effort Saturday, Evan Liechty announced himself as a contender for a state medal.
The South Adams High School junior passed 11 runners in the final mile of Saturday’s semi-state race hosted by New Haven at IPFW, surging to a third-place finish.
“The way he finished last week gave me a really good idea that he had a shot today,” said SAHS coach Clint Anderson. “To get third blows my mind. It’s just awesome.”
Jay County senior Katie Simmons fell just short of joining Liechty at the state finals with a 21st-place finish in the girls race.
The top five teams and top 15 individuals advance to the state finals, which will be contested Saturday at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute.
The Starfire boys team scored 268 points to finish in 11th place. Fifth-ranked Mishawaka was first with 67 points followed by No. 13 South Bend St. Joseph (83), No. 11 Carroll (121), Warsaw (141) and No. 19 Snider (170).
Jay County’s girls, who were seeded 19th, finished 16th with 410 points. Seventh-rated Carroll was first with 89 points to win the meet by one over No. 16 Concordia. Rounding out the top five were No. 12 Warsaw (106), No. 19 Penn (141) and Northridge (158).
South Adams senior Hannah Moore placed 89th in the girls race.
Liechty didn’t look much like a front-runner early, starting with two of his teammates out in front of him. By the mid-point of the race a state berth was still in doubt as he sat 14th in a pack of contenders.
But in the final mile, the junior made his move. He passed 11 runners late in the race and edged Mishawaka’s Eric Hancock at the finish line to place third in 15 minutes, 59.22 seconds.
“Usually throughout my races I run a consistent pace,” said Liechty, who trailed only champion Joey Zielinski (15:40) of St. Joseph and Miguel Lozano (15:50) of Mishawaka. “A lot of guys will go out a little bit harder. … I guess really I didn’t do much. I just kept consistent through here and ended up passing people.
“It definitely feels good for the whole season to work that hard for this, and then just put it together.”
Liechty’s career-best time was about 16 seconds faster than he ran at the regional meet a week earlier, and more than a minute better than he posted at the Bellmont sectional. A year ago, he finished 74th in the semi-state in 17:05.
“He’s running so smart right now,” said Anderson. “Last year we got up here and it got the best of him. He went out and tried to lead the thing from the gun …
“You learn a lot from your mistakes. He’s a very smart kid, and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.”
Simmons got off to a strong start, leading the field of 147 runners into the first turn on the course. And she kept herself in position for a chance to advance most of the way.
She was 11th as the lead pack made its way into the wooded area at IPFW for the first time, and came out in 14th behind Winchester’s Whitney Wiist.
She slipped to 18th by the two-mile mark before climbing back into the top 15 again. But she couldn’t quite keep up the pace down the home stretch as she finished 21st in 19:48.
Wiist, who finished ahead of Simmons at both the sectional and regional meets, captured the final state-qualifying spot in 15th at 19:19. Ashley Erba of Warsaw won the semi-state title by more than 30 seconds in 18:07.
“I thought she did an excellent job as far as strategy and giving herself a shot,” said McEvoy of Simmons who was nearly a minute faster than in her 67th-place finish last season. “She got herself established in the front pack right away. … She gave herself a shot at it, and that’s all you could really ask. …
“She did a great job getting herself into position, she just didn’t have enough kick … She did an awesome job. It was a great effort. …”
Joel Hawbaker turned in the No. 2 time for the South Adams boys finishing 36th in 16:48. Brody Shane placed 53rd in 17:05, with Tim Lehman 82nd in 17:31 and Simon Sprunger 105th with a time of 17:44.
The Starfires finished 16th in the meet last season.
“As a whole, they did great,” said Anderson. “I think they can walk out of here with their heads held high that they gave it their best effort.”
Eme Miller followed Simmons for Jay County with a 63rd-place finish in 20:37. Abigail Johnson was 120th in 21:51, Liz Lennartz placed 133rd in 22:09 and Patricia Hein took 149th in 23:18.
“I thought they put together a good race,” said McEvoy, whose team finished 19th in each of the previous two seasons. “I thought Eme ran a strong race.”
Moore finished off her career for the Starfires with a time of 21:05 for 89th place.
Also running were Sawyer Miller (125th – 18:07) and Cody Sprunger (129th – 18:22) for the South Adams boys, and Kaitlin Hemmelgarn (153rd – 23:48) and Julie Valentine (158th – 25:21) for the Jay County girls.[[In-content Ad]]