Fugiett, Starfires will run Saturday

The physical ability has been there all season.

The focus now is getting her mind right.

“Mentally, oh my goodness, it’s hard to prepare mentally for this,” said Jay County High School freshman Sophia Fugiett, who along with the entire South Adams girls team will compete in the IHSAA cross country semi-state meet at 1 p.m. Saturday at IPFW. “Physically, I’ve got that down. I just have to tell myself that I can do it. I know I can. I just have to go out and do it.”

The task for JCHS coach Kurt Hess in the week leading up to the race has been to keep the freshman at her pace and tell her not to get caught in a group of runners.

“Run her race, don’t run someone else’s,” Hess said. “(Don’t) come out too quick. Just get on her to maintain her pace, not get caught up with too fast (or) too slow.”

Though she will get warm up there on the day of the race, Fugiett has not had the chance to run the course at IPFW.

She said not knowing the course will be a challenge Saturday because her familiarity with Delta’s course at Muncie SportsPlex helped her during the sectional — she was fifth — and regional meets (10th).

“I don’t want to mess up,” she said. “I know there will be people that I can follow. Probably lots of people.”

Since stepping foot at JCHS this fall, Fugiett has been the top runner for the Patriots. She had a time of 21 minutes, 45 seconds, at her first meet Aug. 22, and had a time of 21:01 a month later.

“She’s been a leader all year just by her work ethic,” Hess said. “She might be one of the quieter ones but she shows it through her times and how hard she works in practice.

“Even though she’s a freshman, you can tell people look up to her on the team.”

In the Delta Invitational on Sept. 23 she took a step back, finishing in 21:30, but it was the following week during the Allen County Athletic Conference championships at South Adams that the youngster set her career best by placing third in 20:30.

Since then, Fugiett hasn’t been able to match that time. She fought strong winds Oct. 7 at sectional for a time of 21:45, and a week later on the same course at regional she was six seconds shy of breaking the 21-minute mark, a goal she hopes she can accomplish yet again.

And it’s the encouragement from those around her that she credits for helping push her to this point.

Jay County had regularly sent one or more runners to the semi-state meet for more than a decade — Megan Wellman and Kellie Fortkamp ran in it as seniors in 2015 — before being shut out last year.

“Just the moral support from the teammates and my friends and my family and myself too,” she said. “They all tell me I can do it, that I can go out there and run my fastest and I hope to do that.”

For the Starfire girls, it is the third straight year they competing as a team at semi-state. They were 15th last season and 19th in 2015.

It’s the fourth year in a row that SAHS senior Olivia Von Gunten qualified for semi-state. As an individual during her freshman season, she was 69th in 20:52.58. It was the best of her three finishes as she was 83rd as a sophomore and 87th as a junior.

Kallee Patch, a sophomore, led the Starfires last year by placing 49th in 19:44.03. Junior Eliza Harruff was 98th as a sophomore and 142nd during her freshman season.

Those three, along with freshman Megan Miller, alternated in the spotlight as the top SAHS runner this season.

“When you’ve got a team with kids of that caliber, that any one of them can take over as your No. 1, they don’t seem to mind,” SAHS coach Clint Anderson said in August. “I’m sure everyone wants to be the top dog, but I think they’re motivated by the fact that they realized just how strong that pack is.”

Jay County’s Fugiett and the Starfire seven — which includes sophomore Isabel Von Gunten and seniors Calyssa Lehman and Hadi Hawbaker — will have their work cut out for them this weekend as the semi-state field has a number of returning state medalists.

DeKalb senior Tyler Schwartz is the reigning state champion. As a junior, she won semi-state in 17:47.29 before running an 18:08.6 to win the state title.

Carroll juniors Abigail Green (2016 state runner-up) and Megan Hathaway (seventh) are back again this year, as are East Noble’s Kayla McCullough (12th) and Penn’s Lauren Frank (16th).

So with that in mind, Fugiett isn’t focusing so much on the other girls in the race.

She’s worried about herself.

“I’m not really sure how I’m going to finish,” she said. “I’m hoping to be like top 100, maybe top 90. My time, I want it to be under 21 (minutes). I’ve had a challenge with that.

“I’ve only got it once so I hope this will be the second time.”