Fugiett enjoying the journey

It’s been a season of redemption for Sophia Fugiett.

Unsure if she’d get the chance to compete in the first place because of the coronavirus pandemic, Fugiett has cherished each time she’s gotten to race this year, especially not knowing if it’ll be her last.

She now knows which will be the final race of her high school career, and she’s relishing the opportunity to have a little bit of company this time around.

Fugiett, a Jay County High School senior, and sophomore Lydia Keihn will be making their second semi-state appearance when they represent the Patriot girls cross country team at 10 a.m. Saturday at Huntington University.

“It feels awesome,” Fugiett said. “I am still speechless. It is such a redemption season. I wanted (semi-state) so bad ever since sophomore year when I missed by less than one second.

“I’m just blessed to even be running.”

During her freshman season, Fugiett reached semi-state as an individual and finished 119th in 21 minutes, 39.49 seconds. The following year at regional, she was two places and a mere eight-tenths of a second behind Lapel’s Noelle Loller for the 10th and final individual qualifying spot.

That feeling stung. And while she battled some injuries as a junior she was never able to be as fast as she was her first two seasons.

The idea of this being the last year to lace up her shoes with her teammates gave her a different mindset; one that’s pushed her back to being one step away from the state finals.

“I think I’ve finally come to the realization I’m a senior and I’m not going to get any of this back,” said Fugiett, who had a time of 21:25 during regional to earn her berth Saturday’s race. “I have to leave it all out on the course.

“I think that’s what’s changed, and Saturday (at regional) that was my motivation. This is my last time. I have to prove to myself that I can do it and I did.”

Keihn, a sophomore, has been the lead Patriot runner since her first race. She was the lone semi-state qualifier during her freshman season, finishing 103rd in 20:47.4 despite slipping at the starting line in cold, rainy conditions at Purdue Fort Wayne’s The Plex.

While weather doesn’t appear to be a factor Saturday — the forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with a high near 53 degrees — Keihn is just focusing on running her own race.

“It’s not really about keeping up with people,” she said. “It’s worrying about your own time.

“If you try to go too fast, trying to stay up with advanced runners, you really kill yourself. Get into a pace you’re used to and then start picking people off.”

Keihn overtook five runners in the final mile of the regional meet to place 15th in 20:58.

“I feel really prepared,” Keihn said. “I’m hyped up.”

Delta freshman Nikki Southerland, with her regional-championship time of 17:59, is seeded second Saturday, with Addison Wiley of Huntington North the top seed at 17:56. The field also includes individual regional champions Addison Knoblauch of Homestead (18:39) and Haylee Hile (19:06) of Northridge. Seeds are based on regional times.

Among the full teams Saturday is back-to-back defending state champion Carroll, which has won semi-state titles 10 out of the last 11 years.

JCHS coach Paul Hyatt said he didn’t alter the practice schedule this week in that he had it planned months ago with the expectation the training regimen had the potential to get runners to this point of the season. He didn’t want to give Fugiett, or Keihn, or anyone else who may have qualified any surprises going into the biggest races of their respective careers.

So what expectations does Hyatt have for his pair of girls on Saturday?

“Just tell them to have realistic expectations,” he said. “They know where they stand with everybody else. At this point in the season it’s basically what can they prove to themselves more so than trying to beat a kid that is going to go on and win the state competition.

“Everybody’s season comes to an end at some point and a lot of the time, even if you do cross that finish line in first place, it doesn’t necessarily go exactly the way you wanted it to.”

That’s the mindset Fugiett is taking too, knowing very well this will be the last time she runs as a member of the Jay County cross country team.

“I don’t have any certain expectations,” she said. “It’s going to be my last race. I don’t want to make expectations for myself and if I don’t get them then I’m going to be upset.

“I plan on just running my best race I have ran in my entire life and see where that goes. I would love to beat my time from last week. I just want to enjoy the journey.”