'Cats topple Jay Co. (05/11/05)

PORTLAND — Tuesday’s girls track meet came down to the final event, but Jay County just couldn’t match up.

Knowing they had to win the race to win the meet, the Muncie Central Bearcats stacked the 4x400-meter relay to eke out a 64-58 win over the Patriots. The victory improved eighth-ranked Muncie Central to 6-0-1 on the year.

The Bearcats dominated the boys competition, nearly doubling Jay County for an 81-41 win.

“We came within (a few points) of beating one of the top 10 teams in the state. I couldn’t be more happy about that,” said JCHS girls coach Tyler Caldwell of his team’s effort on Senior Night. “We could have pulled it out, but I feel like my seniors gave it their all and I feel like the kids competed for the seniors tonight. I couldn’t be happier with their effort.”

On the girls side it was the Patriots dominating the long distance races and field events, while Muncie Central controlled the sprints and hurdles with its state-level athletes. Using that formula, Central held just a one-point lead heading into the final race.

With the meet hanging in the balance, the Bearcats moved star freshman sprinter Nikki Johnson into the relay and she led them to a winning time of 4-minutes, eight seconds. Jay County’s team ran a season-best time by three seconds in 4:18.

“We were hoping to pick up first and seconds in some races and sweep the mile,” said Caldwell. “We were close to doing what we needed to do, but Muncie Central is just so strong in the hurdles and sprints. In the 4x4 they moved their lineup around and beat their best time by 12 ...”

Alyssa Johnson, Amanda Johnson and Jill Roughia each won one race, and contributed to the lone relay victory for the Patriots.

Alyssa Johnson clobbered the field in the 3,200 run, winning by well over a minute as she crossed the finish line about 300 meters ahead of the field with a time of 12:37.66. Amanda Johnson took the 1,600 run in 5:56, and Jill Roughia was first in the 800 run in 2:34.25.

The trio joined Jessica Mosier in winning the 4x800 relay in 10:26.50.

Erika Hunt took first in the high jump at four feet, 10 inches, and Nicole Pfeifer won the long jump with a leap of 14 feet, 71/4 inches. Sara Garringer added a shot put victory at 28 feet, seven inches.

Caldwell praised his seniors — Jill Roughia, Jessica Heitkamp and Leah Gasparovic.

“I really appreciate the hard work my seniors have put in this year,” he said. “Hopefully they can go out with bang at conference and sectional.”

Three of the five victories for the boys team came in the field events, with Joseph Vormohr accounting for two of those.

Vormohr took the discus at 133 feet, 31/4 inches. He also added a one-two finish in the shot put ahead of teammate Steven Castillo with a throw of 46 feet, 31/2 inches.

Mark Kelly notched the third field-event win as he cleared six feet in the high jump.

“Field events carried us,” said Jay County boys coach Greg Garringer, noting that Vormohr is closing in on his goal for the season. “(Vormohr) had a throw that was a foul, but it was about 54 or 55 feet. If he’s on and he stays in the ring, he’s there.”

Kurtis Hess took the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.56, and senior Adam May won the 400 dash in 53 flat.

The Patriots also had just four second-place efforts.

“(Muncie Central) is a track team and we’re not there yet,” Garringer said. “We had a talk when we went to Blackford and they came through that night ...

“We had a bad one at New Castle, a good one at Blackford and a bad one tonight. Hopefully conference will be a good one.”

Jay County will compete at the Olympic Athletic Conference Meet Friday night at Connersville.[[In-content Ad]]