Regional ribbons

FORT WAYNE — With the end of the season staring the Patriots in the face, they made the trip north with the goal of earning some ribbons.

One of the Patriots who made her first regional meet walked away with one of those ribbons, and another that had made three trips finally brought a ribbon back to Portland.

Ariel Beiswanger and the 4x100-meter relay team highlighted the day for the Jay County High School girls track team at the IHSAA Regional 3 meet hosted by Carroll on Tuesday.

The two scores gave Jay County three points, leaving them tied for 26th place with Marion and Bellmont out of 31 scoring teams. Host Carroll won the event with a score of 110.5 points, while Yorktown — the Tigers finished ninth with 24.5 — had the highest placement of the teams from Sectional 12, which the Patriots came from.

“I’m feeling well with two ribbons,” said JCHS coach Joe Imel. “I’m just really happy with the girls in general. We didn’t have bad performances anywhere. Everybody performed as well or better than they did at the sectional. It’s just when you get here, it’s a new level.”

Jay County’s top performance on the day came from the 4x100-meter relay team.

Coming into the regional, the Patriot squad of Jenna Dues, Morgan DeHoff, Beiswanger and London Lloyd was seeded eighth at 52.60 seconds. The group climbed up one spot from that seed line by completing the race in 51.77 seconds. (To finish seventh, the Patriots overtook Oak Hill and Wayne, while Snyder jumped Jay County for fifth.)

Jay County High School freshman London Lloyd staves off the anchor of Bishop Luers to finish off the 4x100-meter relay in seventh place at the IHSAA Regional 3 meet hosted by Carroll on Thursday. It was the highest finish for the Patriots, earning two points, while Ariel Beiswanger earned a third in the 200 dash. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

The seventh-place finish earned seniors DeHoff and Dues their first regional ribbons as well. Dues is a four-time regional qualifier, making the trip to Ben Davis as a freshman in the 4x100 relay and the high jump, to Pike as a sophomore in the 200 dash and again as a junior in the 4x100 relay and 200 dash. DeHoff joined Dues on both of the previous relay teams and earned an individual berth in 2024 in the 100 hurdles.

“I’m really happy for the two senior girls in that 4x1 team,” Imel said. “Jenna’s been to regional the prior three years, so four years in a row and hadn’t gotten a ribbon. This year, moving to this regional, we had a better chance and took advantage of it.”

Dues also competed as an individual in the high jump. She finished 14th in the event with a height of 4 feet, 10 inches, which was the same as her sectional mark.

Similar to DeHoff and Dues, Jordyn Hutzler saw her career come to an end at the regional meet. She placed 11th in the shot put with a mark of 33 feet, 10.5 inches, and 14th in the discus with a throw that traveled 95 feet, 3 inches.

Along with the seniors, the Patriots had a depth of underclassment present.

Beiswanger, a sophomore, had the only individual ribbon for the Patriots after finishing eighth in the 200-meter dash. Her sectional performance had her seeded sixth in with a time of 27.36 seconds. Beiswanger shaved off over half a second during the prelims, finishing sixth in 26.70.

She followed the career-best time with a 27.24 to hold on for eighth place, beating out Saniya Brinkley of North Side by 0.27 seconds.

“I feel pretty good that I made it that far and made it to finals,” Beiswanger said. “I didn’t finish high, but also I did place at regionals. … You just have to really push yourself and get in your head that you can do it.”

Beiswanger’s 400 dash didn’t go as smoothly, as she finished 16th with a time of 1 minute, 6.25 seconds. Peyton Carpenter placed 14th in the event with a 1:05.38.

The other underclassmen to compete in individual events were Brooklynn Byrum and Carpenter. Byrum finished 12th in the 800 run with a time of 2:29.77. Carpenter failed to place in the long jump as she fouled on all three preliminary attempts.

Junior Maria Hemmelgarn also competed as an individual. She matched her career-best mark and school record of 9 feet in the pole vault to take 10th. Had Hemmelgarn cleared the 9-foot bar on her first attempt, she would have tied for seventh.

JCHS junior Paityn Wendel keeps up with the pack near the start of the 4x800-meter relay on Tuesday at the IHSAA Regional 3 meet hosted by Carroll. The Patriots finished tied for 26th out of 31 scoring teams after top-eight finishes from the 4x100 relay team and Ariel Beiswanger. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Jay County’s other relay teams finished in the bottom half. The 4x800 relay team of Paityn Wendel, Ava May, Byrum and Jessie Homan —  Wendel is a junior while the other three are freshmen —  avoided the bottom spot as they ran a 10:45.06 for 15th. Mya Kunkler, Byrm, Carpenter and Lloyd combined for a time of 4:27.01 that placed 16th in the 4x400 relay.

“It’s huge to get this early experience,” said Imel, comparing Dues’ experiences as an underclassman to that as a senior. “These girls will be here next year and will have been there, done that and it will be normal to them. The first year that you are at this meet, it’s big and it feels big. Sometimes the pressure gets to you. We did well, it’s just that everybody else did a whole lot better.”