Fugiett fifth, four make regional

MUNCIE — Sophia Fugiett knew she had talent as a runner.

But she didn’t expect to do as well as she has.

Fugiett, a Jay County High School freshman, finished fifth overall and was one of two JCHS girls — as well as two Patriot boys — to qualify for regional at the IHSAA cross country sectional meet Saturday at Muncie Sportsplex.

“I don’t know,” Fugiett, who had a time of 21 minutes, 45.4 seconds, said when asked how it felt. “It’s really cool actually. As a freshman I didn’t think it was possible, but I’m here.”

Jay County’s girls scored 141 points to finish seventh as a team. Delta won the team title with 55 points, ahead of Randolph Southern (60) and Monroe Central (88). Muncie Burris (102) and Union City (110) were fourth and fifth respectively in qualifying for regional.

The top five teams and top 10 individuals not on advancing teams make the regional, which is Oct. 14 back at Muncie Sportsplex. Miranda Alig, another JCHS freshman, finished 34th to earn the 10th and final individual regional qualifying spot.

For the second time in as many seasons, Skyler Myers and Alex LeMaster are going to regional. Myers was 13th and LeMaster placed 31st as Jay County totaled 197 points for eighth place.

Muncie Central scored 62 points to win the team championship. Monroe Central (84), Wapahani (86), Delta (87) and Muncie Burris (124) also advanced to regional.

Fugiett, who was in the top 10 last weekend in the Allen County Athletic Conference championships, was in sixth place after one mile, a few meters behind Union City’s Reagan Hoggatt. Fugiett remained in sixth place after two miles. With about 100 meters to go, Fugiett found another gear and passed Hoggatt to move into the top five.

“It is just adrenaline,” she said. “Adrenaline at the end. It just goes.”

That was part of her strategy too; don’t go too strong at the beginning to have energy left at the end.

“I just thought I’d stay a little bit behind and work them off one by one,” she said. “I got the girl at the end. It was nice.”

Alig was 16th after the opening mile, and slipped two spots after two miles. But the third mile was the most difficult for her, as she slipped back to 34th, finishing with a time of 25:20.0, six seconds ahead of Muncie Central’s Kemory Rhoades for the last regional spot.

“At this point I think surviving is just the name of the game,” JCHS coach Kurt Hess said. “It will be a good experience getting to regional as a freshman. Hopefully she can build of that sophomore and junior year.”

Fellow freshman Lita Chowning was 39th in 26:22.9 as the No. 3 runner for Jay County. Sophomore Ella Roessner finished in 26:58.7 for 43rd, and Catherine Stafford completed the Patriots’ team score by finishing 51st in 29:58.6.

Myers took a little different route than Fugiett in his race. He got caught near the middle of the 72 runners about 100 meters after the start. He worked his way up to 14th at the one-mile mark, and improved one spot a mile later. During the third mile the Patriot junior lost one spot, but with 50 meters to go he overtook Dalton Winans of Monroe Central to place 13th in 18:00.5.

LeMaster sat in 22nd after the first mile before falling back a couple spots to 24th with just about a mile to go. Like it was with Alig, the third and final mile was his most difficult as he eventually slipped to 31st with a time of 18:51.5. He earned the eighth individual regional qualifying spot.

“They’ve seen regionals quite a bit,” Hess said. “I think they were both expecting to move on.

“It’s nice to have two guys instead of one to push each other. I think they both look forward to running here again, especially Alex as a senior getting to advance again.”

Fugiett said she’s going to use the opportunity of practicing with Myers and LeMaster for at least another week to help build off her sectional performance.

“Practice harder,” she said. “The hardest I’ve ever practiced, probably.”

Rounding out the team score for Jay County’s boys were Mitchell Winner (45th – 19:48.9), Xavier Myers (55th – 21:11.4) and Candler Hedges (21:11.7).

Also running for the Jay County girls was Elizabeth McDowell (36:17.6), who was 55th. Mason Winner (58th – 21:16.9) and Matthew Minnich (59th – 21:46.5) also ran for the JCHS boys.