Strong at Celina

CELINA, Ohio — The Patriots and Indians enjoyed their day at the lake.
Jay County High School’s girls cross country team dominated Division I, scoring 24 points to win the Celina Rotary Invitational on the shore of Grand Lake St. Mary’s at Wright State University’s Lake Campus.
Findlay was a distant second in Division I with 49 points.
All teams competed in a single race, and then were divided into three divisions for awards. The Patriots trailed only Coldwater, which won Ohio’s Division III state title last season and had the top three runners Saturday, in the overall results.
“That’s huge,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy of the victory. “We’ve been coming here (eight) years, and we’ve only won this one other time. That team won a regional.
“We’re off to a great start. Our first meet out (Tuesday’s Bellmont Invitational), those were the best times one through five we’ve had for several years. We had a really, good, solid foundation. …
“Today we came out and we had a goal to win our division as a team, and we did a really nice job.”
The Fort Recovery girls were fourth overall and third out of seven times in Division III as they scored 78 points and trailed only Coldwater (25) and Fort Loramie (69), which finished fifth in the state last season.
“I thought we did well today,” said FRHS coach Michelle Stammen. “They had a very strong showing. They were only eight points behind second. Coldwater and Fort Loramie beat us. They both have outstanding teams, and we were right there with Fort Loramie. So I am a happy coach.”
The JCHS boys were third out of four Division I squads (14th overall) with 72 points, and the Indian boys were last out of seven Division III teams (12th overall) with 148.
While Coldwater’s Sarah Kanney (18 minutes, 50 seconds), her sister Jill and Christian Seas dominated the girls race, Jay County and Fort Recovery put together a solid pack of runners behind them.
Freshman Megan Wellman of the Patriots led the group as she ran out to seventh place early and held that position throughout the race. She finished seventh overall and second among Division I runners in 21:05.
“She just did a really nice job, stepping up and leading us down the stretch,” said McEvoy. “She pulled away and solidified that spot. Getting in the 20s is a really big step for a girl. It really separates them. And we’ve got three right there knocking on the door. For Megan to step up and do that in her second race … just says a lot.”
Abigail Johnson, a junior, was sixth most of the way for JCHS and placed eighth in 21:11. And a trio of local runners finished consecutively with Fort Recovery’s Elle Sutter, a 2010 state qualifier, 10th in 21:24 followed by Emi Minnich of JCHS in 21:31 and Caitlyn Huelskamp of the Indians in 21:41.
“Caitlyn Huelskamp two spots behind Elle, I’m super excited about that,” said Stammen. “She was right there with her.
“She is just pushing herself in practice. Her time Tuesday (at the Mercer County Meet) was 23:52. She was disappointed … so I knew she was going to have a better time today.”
Junior Kaitlin Hemmelgarn placed 17th for Jay County in 22:10, and freshman Kellie Fortkamp completed the team score in 29th with a time of 22:57.
For Fort Recovery, Jessica Vogel was 35th in 23:09 followed by Abby May (38th – 23:15) and Sam Tobe (42nd – 23:20).
Derek Sutter of the Indians was the top area runner in the boys competition, steadily improving throughout the race. He was 38th after the first mile, but worked his way up to 24th with a half-mile to go and placed 23rd in 18:47.
“That’s what he does,” said Stammen of Sutter’s consistent progress through the field. “He knows where he has to be. He knows what his goal is. And he just works every single step to make that happen.”
Jay County’s Dylan Cope was 25th after the opening mile and moved up to 21st before sliding back to finish 35th in 19:12.
Joe Gonzalez was the No. 2 runner for Fort Recovery in 50th in 19:50. Chaz Carroll finished 62nd for JCHS, and Michael Denney was 71st in 20:38.
“Michael Denney has been a big lift for us,” said McEvoy. “He was our No. 2 our first meet out and then today he worked his way up through the field, kind of hung back at first and then weaved his way through. He’s done a really good job for us as a freshman.”
Nathan Fullenkamp placed 80th for the Indians in 20:59 followed by Isaac Siegrist (82nd – 21:01) and Mitchell Homan (101st – 21:38). Jacob Nichols was 113th for Jay County in 22:06, and Travis Barton finished 139th in 22:54.[[In-content Ad]]