Patriot power

BLUFFTON — Last season, the Patriots lost the conference meet in the final event.
This season, they left little doubt they were the best team.
The Jay County High School girls track team won the first event of the evening, and simply built on its lead for the remainder of the meet in winning the Allen County Athletic Conference championship Friday at Bluffton.
“We have good individuals, but we have a better team and that is how we are going to win,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy, whose team lost to South Adams by one point last season. “Individuals are important, but we have to be the better team.
“We just had so many performances down the road, just little things that nickel and dimed them in points that were absolutely huge for us.”
The Patriots claimed titles in four events, one fewer than the defending champion Starfires. But it was Jay County’s depth that helped it to 152 total points. South Adams scored 123 points for second place and was the only other team to eclipse 100. Bluffton was third with 73.
Bluffton’s boys scored 151 points to win its championship. South Adams was second with 115.5 points, and Woodlan was third with 108. Jay County totaled 43 points for sixth.
Jay County’s girls set the tone in the 4x800-meter relay, finishing with a time of 10 minutes, 21.96 seconds, more than 13 seconds in front of South Adams. Junior Erika Kunkler got the Patriots out to about a five-second lead, and when she passed the baton to Kendra Muhlenkamp, the freshman only created more space between her and everyone else. Kellie Fortkamp ran the third leg, and Megan Wellman anchored the defending relay champs.
“I’m very proud of all of the girls,” said Wellman, who also won the 3,200 run with her time of 12:39.57. “We really wanted that and we are working on that. We have been pushing each other and it’s nice to defend a title.”
The Patriots’ other victories came in the shot put and the meet-ending 4x400 relay.
Bekah Corwin had a distance of 31 feet, 3 inches, to beat Cindy In’t Groen of South Adams by 4 inches in the shot put. The 4x400 relay team of Emma Laux, Erika Kunkler, Taylor Homan and Britlyn Dues finished in 4:14.91.
“They did a really good job of putting an exclamation on (the win),” McEvoy said.
While Jay County only won four events, its depth allowed it to pull away from South Adams.
The Patriots had two athletes finish in the top eight in 11 of the 12 non-relay events. They were second in five races as well as the long jump and high jump.
“The depth was huge for us,” McEvoy said. “Four wins was more than I thought we would get.”
He noted that Corwin stepping up in the shot put, as well as Kendal Garringer’s runner-up performance in the high jump and Sydney Robbins making the 100-meter hurdle finals — she was eighth — as a few performances that stood out.
“So many little performances that mean a lot,” McEvoy said.
South Adams sophomores Addie Wanner and Olivia Von Gunten repeated as champions in two events.
Wanner won the 100 hurdles in 15.86 seconds, then cleared an even 5 feet for a victory in the high jump. Von Gunten fell behind Jay County’s Muhlenkamp after 1,200 meters but sprinted the final 40 meters to win in 5:36.35, a mere 12 hundredths of a second ahead of Muhlenkamp. Von Gunten then led the 800 run from start to finish to a time of 2:30.6.
Caroline Kloepper, a Starfire junior, successfully defended her title in the 400 dash in 1:00.22.
Andrew Trewyn was the lone Patriot boy to earn a conference championship, clearing 6 feet to win high jump.
Bailey McIntire of South Adams set a school record in the 1,600 run, finishing first in 4:22.95 seconds. He raced out to the front and steadily built his lead throughout, winning by nearly 20 seconds.
“I found a strategy that worked, I went out hard those first (200 meters),” said McIntire, who also won the 3,200 run in 10:13.58. “I was going for the record (in the 1,600) tonight. I was really happy with that.”
Starfire senior Drew LeFever also defended his shot put title, matching his distance of 51 feet, 10 inches, from a year ago.