Jay wins Patriot battle

It didn’t matter that the meet was well in hand, and had been for most of the evening.
There was still room for some last-second dramatics.
Erika Kunkler provided them, rallying late in the 4x400-meter relay that gave the Jay County High School girls track team its eighth and final victory of the evening in a photo finish as it topped visiting Heritage 80-42 in a battle of Patriots.
“I thought overall it was a good effort,” said JCHS girls coach Brian McEvoy. “Our distance really was a huge key today. …
“The pieces are starting to come together. We’ve just got to get the right combination to make a push toward the end of the year here.”
The Jay County boys won five events, but gave up first and second places in five others as they fell 76-47.
“We had quite a few (season bests),” said JCHS coach Kurt Hess. “I think we’re starting to narrow down guys, especially for relays, for sectional and conference. … Even though some of them we didn’t win tonight, they ran pretty well together.”
Jay County already held a 33-point lead heading into the final event of the meet, in which Emma Laux, Emily Muhlenkamp and Taylor Homan built a lead on the first three legs. Kunkler took the baton for the final lap and stayed in front of Heritage’s Brenna Chacon for about 100 meters before slipping to second place early on the back stretch.
The home team waited, hoping Chacon would run out of gas. But Kunkler’s deficit kept growing as she rounded the final curve.
It looked as if the race was over. And then Kunkler decided it wasn’t.
The junior surged, and with just 20 meters left she was nipping at Chacon’s heels. As other runners from both teams roared, the race came down to the final steps as Kunkler leaned across the finish line and then jumped in celebration of the win that came by just two tenths of a second in 4:28.86.
Kunkler didn’t think she could make a comeback, and given that she had already been on the track for 2 miles — in the 4x800 relay, 800 run and 1,600 run — that would have been understandable.
“But then with about 50 meters left, I was thinking, ‘Hey, I can go for it,’” she said. “And everybody was screaming. And it was just, it was great. … I was so happy.”
It was a big day for Kunkler as she dominated the 800 run as well. She hurried out to a 20-meter lead in the first quarter of the race and was never challenged, leading a sweep in 2:39.78 with teammates Kendra Muhlenkamp and Megan Wellman.
The same trio swept the 1,600 run, with Muhlenkamp taking the top spot in 5:58 ahead of Wellman and Kunkler.
“They were huge,” said McEvoy, “I mean, that was a 16-point swing. That was a good-sized portion of the margin. The other thing about them is they don’t care who beats each other … they just go out and get the job done and that’s really important for us.
“I thought Erika Kunkler was just real strong today. She kind of got thrown into the 4x4 in the last minute. I really didn’t want to run her in it, but she stepped up and ran it and pulled that out for us at the end. It was just a really gritty performance.”
Muhlenkamp, Wellman and Kunkler also teamed with senior Kellie Fortkamp to take the top spot in the 4x800 relay in 10:51, and Gabby Kunkler completed the JCHS sweep of the distance events by winning the 3,200 run in 14:11.
Jay County also earned wins in three of the four field events, with Taylor Muhlenkamp leading a sweep in the discus with a season-best toss of 93 feet, 8 inches. Gwen Omstead also cleared the 90-foot mark to finish second, and Gracie Runkle took third.
Audrey Shreve and Kendal Garringer tied for the high jump win at 4 feet, 8 inches, and Lucy Laux took the long jump at 14 feet, 8 inches.
Luke Weaver was the only JCHS boy to have a part in two victories, winning the 800 run in 2:16. He also staked the home team to a big lead in the meet-opening 4x800 relay, and Dallas Dudelston, Tyler Leonhard and Travis Barton finished the job for the victory in 9:26.
Jay County took the top two spots in both jumping events, with Andrew Trewyn first in the high jump at 6 feet, 2 inches, and Nathan Heitkamp leading the long jump at 19 feet, 8.75 inches. Aaron Neal, who also took the 110 hurdles in 17.02, finished second in both the high jump and long jump.
Heritage took first and second in the 100 dash, 200 dash, 400 dash, 1,600 run and 300 hurdles en route to the win.