Murphy fourth in regional

INDIANAPOLIS - As a freshman, Maria Murphy was just hoping to get to the regional meet.

She certainly wasn't expecting to win a sectional title or lead her team at the regional meet. But now she has done both.

Murphy, who took first place in the discus in the sectional at Muncie Southside, turned in the best finish for Jay County High School at Tuesday's regional meet. Her fourth place effort earned half of the Patriots' 10 points as they finished 16th of the 25 teams represented at the meet.

"It's definitely bigger than anything I could have ever imagined," said Murphy of her team-leading effort. "I figured I would be lucky if I could get out of sectional.

"I was pretty happy. I wish I could have thrown a little farther, but I did the best I could."

Indianapolis North Central won the meet with 99 points, and Lawrence North was second at 77.5.

Murphy came closest to earning a state berth for JCHS - the top three finishers in each event advance to the state finals - despite entering the meet as the No. 9 seed. Her opening attempt traveled 101 feet, five inches, which was just enough to hold off three challengers for fourth place.

She finished one inch better than Amanda Owen of Covenant Christian and Nichole Bowman of the host Giants. Arlington's Montaneke Mitchel was seventh at 101 feet even.

All three of the competitors who placed ahead of Murphy were seniors, including champion Catherine Watkins of Covenant Christian at 110 feet, 3 inches.

"Maria Murphy really stepped up as a freshman. She did really well for us," said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy. "That's an event she's been getting better and better at. We're really pleased to see a freshman come into a regional as tough as this and be able to compete and do as well as she did.

"Hopefully she gets three more shots at this. She's got a good foundation to build on."

Senior Lindsey Current, who won the sectional high jump title, added a fifth-place finish for the Patriots as she also fell just short of a state berth.

She cleared the high jump bar on her first attempt at every height up to 5 feet even. She needed two tries to make it over at 5 feet, 1 ½ inches, but again needed just a single attempt as she was one of just seven jumpers to reach 5 feet, 3 inches.

One more successful jump, at the automatic state-qualifying standard of 5 feet, 4 ½ inches, would have earned Current another week of competition, but she fell just short and finished in fifth place. DeAirra Goss of Ben Davis won at 5 feet, 6 ½ inches.

"Lindsey Current did everything about the best that she could. She put herself in a great position," said McEvoy. "She just barely missed the 5 foot, 4 ½ inch height requirement on her last jump. She had a great season and she's had a great career high jumping for us."

The Patriots scored all of their points in throwing events as their only other top-eight finisher came in the shot put.

Sophomore Cara Garringer followed up her sectional championship by placing eighth in the shot put in the regional at 34 feet, 7 ¾ inches. She held of Randolph Southern's Victoria Hicks for the final scoring position in the event by just one-quarter of an inch.

Along with Current, the regional also marked the final meet for JCHS senior twins Kylie and Brianne Wellman.

Kylie Wellman teamed with her sophomore sister Leah, Katie Butcher and Liz Lennartz for 10th place in the 4x800 relay in 10-minutes, 47.96 seconds. They were seeded 13th going into Tuesday's race.

Brianne Wellman ran more than a second faster than at the sectional meet, placing 13th in the 300 hurdles in 50.17. She added a 15th-place finish in the 100 hurdles in 18.7, and joined Kari Hemmelgarn, Macey Gerber and Megan Taylor for 13th in the 4x400 relay in 4:24.92.

"(Kylie) is a girl that's just been a tremendous leader for us," said McEvoy. "Every single race she's ever ran here at Jay County she's given absolutely everything she can. ... She just puts her heart and soul into it.

"(Brianne) just gives her all. She's someone who shows that if you just work hard at something you can compete and be good at it. She's ... really stepped up this year and gave us an awful lot. It took a lot of hard work to make that happen."

Leah Wellman turned in another great last lap in the 1,600 run. The sectional champion passed four runners on the back stretch of the final 400 meters to place 10th in 5:48.

Jordan McMillan, who entered as the No. 1 seed in the 100 dash, also placed 10th. She got off to a slow start in the preliminaries of the event and fell just four hundredths of a second short of qualifying for the final with a time of 13.11.

The sophomore also posted a time of 27.63 in the 200 dash to finish 11th.

"The 100 is just such a hard race because there's just no room for error. You've got a very short distance to work with," said McEvoy. "(McMillan) ran a decent enough time. She was just a little slow that first step out of the blocks.

"She had a tremendous season for us. ... She's going to have a great career at Jay County. Hopefully this can be a learning experience for next year."

Kelsey Wood cleared the high jump bar at 5 feet even to finish in 11th place. Katie Butcher was 15th in the 800 run at 2:41.65.[[In-content Ad]]