Murphy wins regional title

INDIANAPOLIS — Maria Murphy walked away from the shot put area with tears in her eyes.
She was upset after missing out a chance at a state berth and watching a career-best throw go unmeasure because of a scratch. But there was no time to dwell on disappointment.
Murphy still had six throws in the discus to turn her evening around.
She only needed one.
The Jay County junior sent her first attempt soaring 126 feet, 2½ inches and led wire-to-wire at Ben Davis to win the team’s first regional championship in more than a decade.
“I am extremely excited,” said Murphy, who will carry an undefeated record into the state finals June 4 at Indiana University. “It feels very, very great. … I worked so hard the past year to make sure that I could get back to state.”
“It’s a great experience for any athlete to win a regional,” added JCHS  assistant coach Kerri (McClung) George, who won the Patriots’ last regional title in 2000 in the shot put. “She’s on cloud nine, and she should be.
“I’m really, really proud of her.”
The discus title led Jay County to a 24-point total to place it ninth out of the 25 teams that scored at the regional. Lawrence Central won the title with 91.5 points, 10.5 more than runner-up North Central.
Murphy, the regional runner-up last season, entered Tuesday’s tournament as the No. 3 seed but quickly established herself as the athlete to beat. She launched a smooth first throw, and then threw her arms in the air when she saw the measurement — just a foot short of her career best — that put her in the lead.
No one else threatened the mark through the preliminaries or finals, as Mercedes Montgomery of North Central was second at 122 feet, 11 inches and top-seeded Denara Compton of Lawrence Central place third at 122 feet, ½ inch.
In fact, Murphy had the first and second-best throws of the night as her last toss traveled 123 feet, 6 inches.
“That was a great effort,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy. “It’s great to see all of her work pay off. She’s really put in the time, and really dedicated herself to making her a better thrower. … I’m just really happy for her.”
The victory came after a disheartening shot put competition, in which Murphy placed fifth at 37 feet, 10 inches. Her second throw of the evening cleared the 40-foot mark, but she was unable to stay in the ring resulting in a scratch.
Cara Garringer trailed her teammate in 11th at 33 feet, 2¾ inches.
“I came in here knowing that I had the potential of reaching state in both events,” Murphy said. “After I got fifth in shot put I was kind of let down, but I had to go walk it off and collect myself because I knew I still had discus to go …
“When I was walking back, I just had to take a few deep breaths.”
“She was able to block it out and move on to the next event,” added McEvoy. “She didn’t dwell on it. She took a moment or two where she was upset and then refocused.”
Katie Simmons narrowly missed a trip to state in the 1,600 run, where she was third on the first lap before dropping back to fourth on the backstretch of the second. She finished five seconds behind third-place finisher Maddy Roach of Lawrence Central, shattering her career-best time by 12 seconds in 5:15.72.
Jay County’s Leah Wellman was 10th in 5:41.21.
“It was basically unbelievable,” said Simmons who was also eighth in the 3,200 run in 12:09 with teammate Eme Miller 13th at 13:04. “I surpassed even the expectations I put on myself that I thought were impossible. I was trying to get a 5:20 …
“I didn’t have anything left. … I didn’t have anything else to give.”
Jordan McMillan also came up just short, finishing in a three-way tie for fifth in the high jump at 5 feet, 2 inches. She added a ninth-place finish in 13.21 in teh 100 dash, with teammate Katie Snyder 14th in 13.77.
“She got to the state-qualifying height in high jump and had three shots to go to state,” said McEvoy of McMillan. “That’s all you can ask from a senior is to have the opportunity. She did a nice job getting herself in that position.
Cierra Barcus, a freshman, climbed all the way from the No. 16 seed in the long jump to make the finals. She leapt 16 feet, 2½ inches on her final jump, surpassing her career-best by eight inches for an eighth-place finish.
“That was a tremendous effort by a freshman,” McEvoy said. “To step up at this level and under this pressure as a freshman and knock out a jump like that is huge.”
Also competing in individual events for the Patriots Tuesday were Abigail Johnson in the 800 run (11th – 2:33.03), Morgan Link in the 100 hurdles (14th – 17.54) and Abbi Dunlavy in the 400 dash (14th – 1:04.76).
The 4x800 team of Kassi Hemmelgarn, Tiffany Huelskamp, Liz Lennartz and Wellman was ninth in 10:29.61. Miranda Gerber, Tasya Smith, Snyder and Link were 14th in the 4x100 relay in 53.72, and Kim Braun, Amber Huelskamp, Dunlavy and Snyder teamed to take 14th in the 4x400 relay in 4:25.12.[[In-content Ad]]