Trio leads Jay Co. girls

Most teams would be thrilled to have one sectional-championship caliber runner. Jay County boasts three.

The Patriot girls cross country team will once again be a sectional favorite and regional contender this season as it returns four of its top five runners from a year ago.

The boys team will continue to try to build and work its way out of a decade of struggles.

Top among the girls runners is junior Aly Miller, who returns to the team after winning the 2008 sectional title and finishing as the regional runner-up. She led the Patriots to their third straight sectional championship and first regional title in girls cross country.

"She's just a tough kid," said coach Brian McEvoy of his lead runner, who posted a time of 19-minutes, 49.92 seconds at the 2008 regional meet. "She's had a lot of success. ... She's in great shape right now and has been running great ... She has some really big goals this year."

But Miller, who also won the 2007 cross country sectional title at The Water Bowl in Muncie, isn't the team's only top-flight runner.

Another junior, Leah Wellman, also has a sectional championship to her name. Her title came during the track season, in which she dominated the field to win the 1,600-meter run.

Katie Simmons, a sophomore, is also a championship-caliber runner. She was seeded No. 1 in the Muncie Southside track sectional in both the 3,200 and 1,600 only to suffer a broken ankle a few days before the meet.

Both of them were already turning in outstanding efforts at last season's cross country sectional, with Wellman in sixth place and Simmons 11th. Wellman was even stronger at the regional meet, improving on her sectional time by nearly a minute to take fifth.

"Leah looks very strong so far," said McEvoy. "She's run more miles this summer than she has run before.

"She's ahead of where she's been in the past."

"(Simmons) didn't get the opportunity to run as much (because of her ankle injury), but she swam a bunch and biked a bunch. She's getting stronger and stronger by the day."

McEvoy said he believes all three girls could be running the 5K cross country course in less than 20 minutes by the time the tournament rolls around. No runners cleared that mark at the 2008 sectional, and only two - Miller and Yorktown's Alexis Hunt - did so at the regional meet.

"That is maybe the best top 3 you can have," McEvoy said.

The Patriot boys bring back the only runner from the team that finished in the top 50 of the sectional last season in Tevan Nichols.

The senior placed 11th at The Water Bowl in 17:41, qualifying for the regional a year after falling one spot short. He hopes to make a run and be near the top of the sectional this year, and improve on his middle-of-the-pack finish at the regional meet.

"He's talked about being top five in the sectional," said McEvoy. "That's a pretty high goal. He's coming off of a pretty good track season and that should help him."

The girls team's fourth returning runner from last year's top five is senior Kari Hemmelgarn, who should be stronger in her second season back after suffering a knee injury as a sophomore. She is coming off of a 17th-place finish at the Delta sectional.

The squad will also return junior Logan Laux (25th at the sectional meet) and sophomore Liz Lennartz. Newcomers to the squad are junior Megan Taylor and freshman Julie Valentine.

Last season Jay County benefited from strong intra-squad competition for the No. 5 scoring spot, and "I think we've got the same thing this year," said McEvoy. "I think those four or five could all potentially be fours. Our depth is really good this year."

Behind Nichols for the boys team are just three other runners, with sophomore Zach Johnson as the only other returnee. Also on the roster are freshmen Dylan Cope and Kyle Scott.

"Zach ran quite a bit this summer," said McEvoy, while also complimenting the work ethic displayed by his two newcomers. "He looks like he's a little stronger and a little more used to the mileage.

"We're trying to build a program there. We're trying to get kids in who are going to help us run. These are four kids who are going to work hard. I think this is something to build on."

The girls team is seeking to win its fourth straight sectional championship, and hopes to become just the third team in Jay County history to win multiple regional titles.

"Our goals are pretty simple. We want to win the (Olympic Athletic Conference), we want to win the sectional championship. And we want to win the regional championship again."[[In-content Ad]]