Spring could be even better

It’s spring.
Well, maybe.
At least there’s no more snow on the ground. And now instead of inclement weather canceling entire days (or weeks) of school, it’s rain that is washing out athletic events.
At some point, we hope, Jay County High School’s teams will be able to get on the field, course, court and track consistently.
Spring was the Patriots’ season of success last year, particularly come tournament time. After winning one sectional title apiece in the fall (girls cross country) and winter (gymnastics), JCHS racked up three in the span of a week in May when the girls and boys track teams and girls tennis team all came away victorious.
There’s a chance this spring could be just as, or even more, successful.
The three defending sectional title teams could all repeat, with the girls track team topping that list.
Yes, the Patriots lost a big contributor in sprinter Katie Snyder, who is now running at Indiana Wesleyan University. But they return every other athlete who scored in their 49-point sectional win over runner-up Yorktown.
Jay County returns no individual champions, but has 10 athletes — Tasya Smith, Emma Laux, Lexi Myers, Morgan Brown, Amber Huelskamp, Megan Wellman, Abigail Johnson, Emi Minnich, Malarie Houck and Ciera Barcus — who placed in the top four. The team remains strong, deep and primed for a fifth straight championship.
The Patriot boys track team has more holes after its surprise run to the sectional crown last year. The squad graduated 2012 state qualifier Tyler Back (Grace College), two-time high jump sectional champion Cade Price and distance runner Dylan Cope (Indiana University East).
However, they return seniors Zane Shreve, Andrew Eley and J.D. Mangas, all of whom finished in the top four of at least one individual event last year.
And the team should also remember the lesson it learned last season — it takes not only first-place finishes, but the depth throughout the lineup, to earn a track title.
The JCHS girls tennis team returns all four of its doubles athletes — Sydney Bost, Shawna Miller, Emily Westgerdes and Faith Parr, a group that should be ready to lead the team. It lost the three players who filled the singles roles most of last season, but Jessica Kerrigan is back to lead a new trio after stepping up to the role of sectional hero last season.
There may be times when the Patriots are overmatched this season. But remember, they were just 3-11 last year before knocking off Winchester and shutting out Randolph Southern for the sectional crown.
And those are just the returning champions. All three other Jay County squads have chances to turn in big years as well.
The softball team lost just one starter from a squad that went 13-11 and won 12 of its final 18 regular-season games after a slow start. It plans on chasing the single-season school record for wins — 17.
The baseball team also returns a majority of its starting lineup. It is coming off of its first winning season since 2008, and is hoping to reach the 20-win mark.
And the golf team brings back three of the five players who missed earning a regional berth last season by just two strokes. Senior Evan Mathias, who will play at Marian University next season, leads a group hoping to reach the regional for just the third time in school history.
So it’s not just one or two teams that have a chance at great success. It’s all of them.
The Patriots have a chance to not only match their tremendous finish to 2013, but to surpass it.[[In-content Ad]]