Patriots claim regional title

MUNCIE — When the Mount Vernon Marauders were announced as the second-place team, Leah Wellman, Liz Lennartz and Megan Taylor covered their mouths in shock.
Eme Miller and Abigail Johnson shared an excited hug.
Miranda Gerber flashed an expectant smile.
There was only one team left, and that team was the Patriots.
Despite entering as the No. 4 seed, the Jay County High School girls cross country team walked away from The Water Bowl Saturday with its third straight regional championship.
“This year we worked really hard,” said junior Katie Simmons, still unable to hold back the tears. “We didn’t think we could come back and get a regional title like we did last year. We knew it would be really, really hard.”
“This ranks right up there with the first one just because of the sectional times we were seeded fourth and we weren’t even in the ballpark. And even when you looked at our season-best times versus their season-best times, we were still the third-place team,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy. “We ran the best we possibly could, the best effort we could, the best teamwork that we could possibly give. And that just showed what it meant (to us). … It’s just a huge, huge accomplishment. It’s something a lot of good athletes never get a shot at. … What these girls have been able to accomplish … by pouring their heart and soul into it … is just amazing. … They just did an unbelievable job.”
Even after crossing the finish line, the Patriots were doubtful that they had won. So when the results were announced, a heart-felt celebration ensued.
Coming off of its fifth straight sectional title Tuesday, Jay County scored 60 points to win the championship by six over Mount Vernon. Yorktown, the Pendleton Heights sectional champion, was third with 78.
The victory was the closest of the three for the Patriots, who won by 16 points in 2008 and 13 last season.
“We just knew coming into it, it was a four-way battle for first,” said Leah Wellman, a senior, of why the win was such an emotional one for the team. “And we just didn’t know if we had that oomph to make it. I guess we did.”
That extra push JCHS needed came in large part from its first and last scoring runners.
Simmons did her job to perfection in the first quarter-mile, establishing herself in the No. 3 spot in the field of 69 runners and setting the tone for the rest of the team. After the opening mile she was solidly in fourth place and only briefly gave that spot up to Delta’s Emily Grider before taking it back and finishing one spot better than a year ago.
She crossed the finish line in 20 minutes, 29.13 seconds behind champion Whitney Wiist (19:45) of Winchester, Hailey Norris of Monroe Central and Chloe Miller of Anderson. Perhaps most importantly she finished ahead of the No. 1 runners from regional contenders Mount Vernon, Yorktown and Pendleton Heights, giving her team an early advantage.
“Katie ran a really nice race,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy. “She got us out. She got established. She pulls our other girls out with her … She basically maxed out our score when she beat the top runner from all the other teams we were competing with for the regional (championship). … In something like this, every point is huge.”
And every position counts, which is why the effort from Miranda Gerber was so important.
The freshman was running in the mid-20s after the opening mile before putting together a strong surge on the flat portion of the course at The Water Bowl. She moved all the way up to 19th, and eventually crossed the finish line 21st overall in a career-best 21:55.
She was the first No. 5 runner across the finish line for any team, and she was the key in fighting off Mount Vernon as she scored 11 points fewer than the Marauders’ fifth runner.
“Miranda was absolutely huge for us,” said McEvoy. “Today she was as tough as could be, especially for a freshman that’s never experienced anything at this level … That was all heart and guts. She has a heart the size of the ocean, and she really used it for us today. There was no breaking her … She just fought as hard as she could fight, and she really made a huge difference in our team score.”
In between Simmons and Gerber, Wellman ran her typically tough race.
The senior was the No. 3 runner for the Patriots in Tuesday’s sectional win, but stood strong as the No. 2 in the regional. She was 12th in the early going, held that position through the first mile, moved up to 11th with a mile to go and placed 10th in 20:57.
“She just laid it all out there,” said McEvoy. “As a senior, I know she wanted to do everything that she could to give us our best shot. She’s just so solid. You can always count on her. She pulled Eme and Abi along. She has such a great effect on the rest of our girls. I don’t even know if she realizes what she does for us. She had a great race …”
Eme Miller, a first-year runner as a junior, and Abigail Johnson, a freshman, both turned in smart races, running in the low 20s early on before picking off the athletes in front of them. Miller climbed all the way to a 14th-place finish in 21:09, and Johnson was 18th in 21:45.
“If you look at our top five today, three of them weren’t here last year,” McEvoy noted of Miller, Johnson and Gerber. “That’s just tremendously huge … to step up like that and give you everything they’ve got.”
Liz Lennartz was 34th in 22:22, and Logan Laux finished 44th in 22:59.
Along with the other top five teams and top 15 individuals from the regional, Jay County advances to run in semi-state meet. It will compete in the race hosted by New Haven at IPFW Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Patriots are just the second team in school history to win three or more regional titles in a row. The wrestling team earned five straight regional victories from 1984 to 1988.
They will be making their fifth straight trip to the semi-state, and they accomplished the feat without senior Megan Taylor. The No. 3 runner for JCHS at last season’s regional has missed much of the season because of a knee injury.
“I think it just shows the type of group we have here,” said Wellman. “We work as a team. There are seven of us out there, and no one is more important than the other.”[[In-content Ad]]