July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
MUNCIE — Katie Simmons had hoped to break the school record this season.
Now it looks as if she’s trying to put it out of reach.
The Jay County High School senior, who broke the school record Sept. 10 at the Blackford Invitational, shattered her own mark Saturday in leading the Patriot girls cross country team to a runner-up finish in the big-school division at the Delta Invitational.
“She’s just getting better and better,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy of Simmons, who beat her previous time by more than 20 seconds to win the individual title. “She looks strong. I even thought she had a little bit left there at the end.
“Her goal is state. … There’s just a level of desire there that not a lot of people have for anything … She just wants it really bad and she’s willing to do what it takes to make it happen.”
The Patriot girls scored 84 points to finish 21 behind champion Pendleton Heights in the 12-team field. The host Eagles were third with 96.
Jay County’s boys finished with 274 points to place 10th ahead of Richmond in the 11-team group. Pendleton Heights won with 38.
Simmons left nothing to chance Saturday, running out to the early lead and staying in front throughout the race. She had at least a 10 second advantage after a blazing first mile and cruised to victory in 19 minutes, 15.23 seconds.
She was 30 seconds faster than runner-up Courtney Phillips of Connersville, and easily surpassed her own school record time of 19:35.4. She also dominated the two athletes who finished ahead of her at the 2010 sectional meet — defending champion Whitney Wiist, of Winchester, who won the small-school division in 19:33, and Delta’s Emily Grider, who was third behind Simmons and Phillips in 19:58.
“I’m trying to get my first mile to be a lot faster, which today I did,” said Simmons, who ran the opening mile in 5:45. “My goal was to be a 5:50 as a first mile, because I know I’m not going to run the same pace the whole time. … I need to make my average a 6-minute mile.”
Simmons’ effort led a day of strong races as seniors Eme Miller and Liz Lennartz and sophomore Kaitlin Hemmelgarn also had career-best times.
Miller held off Connersville’s Jenna Cox as she joined Simmons in the top 10 in sixth place in 20:13. Lennartz was the No. 3 runner for the Patriots with a 24th-place finish in 21:41, and Hemmelgarn placed 28th in 21:53.
It was the first time Lennartz or Hemmelgarn had broken the 22-minute mark.
“They’ve stepped up huge,” said McEvoy. “Liz has had that goal for a couple years now and she finally got it today. That’s exciting for her. …
“Kaitlin Hemmelgarn … ran JV for us last year and really worked hard, and this year she’s just dropped a tremendous amount of time. … I’m thrilled with her. … She was huge for us today with that time.”
Abigail Johnson was three seconds behind Lennartz in 25th place. It was the first time this season that the top five JCHS competitors had run in the 21s or better.
“We’re not happy with where we’re at, but we’re proud of how far we’ve come,” said Simmons. “We’re so much better than we were (at this point) last year time-wise.”
Dylan Cope ran a consistent race for the boys team, settling in at 25th about a mile into the race and finishing there in a time of 17 minutes, 43 seconds. Stephen Scott was 48th in 18:33 followed by Chaz Carroll (69th – 19:53), Jacob Nichols (77th – 21:20) and Wiley Young (79th – 21:59).
“Cope had his career-best time,” said McEvoy. “His goal was 17s and he broke into that today. ... He wants to get out of sectional and he’s probably sitting on the border … He took a stride towards doing that.”[[In-content Ad]]
Now it looks as if she’s trying to put it out of reach.
The Jay County High School senior, who broke the school record Sept. 10 at the Blackford Invitational, shattered her own mark Saturday in leading the Patriot girls cross country team to a runner-up finish in the big-school division at the Delta Invitational.
“She’s just getting better and better,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy of Simmons, who beat her previous time by more than 20 seconds to win the individual title. “She looks strong. I even thought she had a little bit left there at the end.
“Her goal is state. … There’s just a level of desire there that not a lot of people have for anything … She just wants it really bad and she’s willing to do what it takes to make it happen.”
The Patriot girls scored 84 points to finish 21 behind champion Pendleton Heights in the 12-team field. The host Eagles were third with 96.
Jay County’s boys finished with 274 points to place 10th ahead of Richmond in the 11-team group. Pendleton Heights won with 38.
Simmons left nothing to chance Saturday, running out to the early lead and staying in front throughout the race. She had at least a 10 second advantage after a blazing first mile and cruised to victory in 19 minutes, 15.23 seconds.
She was 30 seconds faster than runner-up Courtney Phillips of Connersville, and easily surpassed her own school record time of 19:35.4. She also dominated the two athletes who finished ahead of her at the 2010 sectional meet — defending champion Whitney Wiist, of Winchester, who won the small-school division in 19:33, and Delta’s Emily Grider, who was third behind Simmons and Phillips in 19:58.
“I’m trying to get my first mile to be a lot faster, which today I did,” said Simmons, who ran the opening mile in 5:45. “My goal was to be a 5:50 as a first mile, because I know I’m not going to run the same pace the whole time. … I need to make my average a 6-minute mile.”
Simmons’ effort led a day of strong races as seniors Eme Miller and Liz Lennartz and sophomore Kaitlin Hemmelgarn also had career-best times.
Miller held off Connersville’s Jenna Cox as she joined Simmons in the top 10 in sixth place in 20:13. Lennartz was the No. 3 runner for the Patriots with a 24th-place finish in 21:41, and Hemmelgarn placed 28th in 21:53.
It was the first time Lennartz or Hemmelgarn had broken the 22-minute mark.
“They’ve stepped up huge,” said McEvoy. “Liz has had that goal for a couple years now and she finally got it today. That’s exciting for her. …
“Kaitlin Hemmelgarn … ran JV for us last year and really worked hard, and this year she’s just dropped a tremendous amount of time. … I’m thrilled with her. … She was huge for us today with that time.”
Abigail Johnson was three seconds behind Lennartz in 25th place. It was the first time this season that the top five JCHS competitors had run in the 21s or better.
“We’re not happy with where we’re at, but we’re proud of how far we’ve come,” said Simmons. “We’re so much better than we were (at this point) last year time-wise.”
Dylan Cope ran a consistent race for the boys team, settling in at 25th about a mile into the race and finishing there in a time of 17 minutes, 43 seconds. Stephen Scott was 48th in 18:33 followed by Chaz Carroll (69th – 19:53), Jacob Nichols (77th – 21:20) and Wiley Young (79th – 21:59).
“Cope had his career-best time,” said McEvoy. “His goal was 17s and he broke into that today. ... He wants to get out of sectional and he’s probably sitting on the border … He took a stride towards doing that.”[[In-content Ad]]
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