Grile wins pair of titles as JC boys place 3rd, girls 4th

He was in the shadows for much of the regular-season, but in the last two weeks Adam Grile has arrived as a clutch performer for the Jay County boys track team. After exploding to three victories last week at the Blackford Invitational, Grile picked up two more at the Olympic Athletic Conference meet at Muncie Southside Friday evening as the Patriots finished third with 120 points.

The effort was an improvement for Jay County after placing fourth last year, as it and the other four teams closed the gap with Huntington North. The Vikings still won the title with 140 points, but it was much closer than the 78-point margin they dominated with a year ago.

Anderson Highland was a relatively close second with 128.5 points, followed by the Patriots in third and Connersville in fourth with 110.5 points.

The girls competition was not as close, with Alyssa Johnson turning in Jay County’s only win as the team placed fourth with 92 points. Huntington North earned a dominating win with 170 points, Connersville was second with 129 and Anderson Highland was third with 116.

Grile had his second straight great week as he picked up two of the Patriots’ three OAC titles.

He won the high jump at a height of five feet, 10 inches. Teammate Kyle Carpenter was second with a matching height.

Grile also took the victory in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.8 seconds.

And, he didn’t end the night with just the two victories. He added a second-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles in 43.43.

Grile also teamed with Lucas McBride, Steven Castillo and Justin Gilbert as the 4x100-meter relay team finished second in 45.46.

Sophomore Joseph Vormohr had the only other win for the boys team as he took first in the discus at 142 feet, nine inches. David Stith was second at 137 feet, two inches.

Stith also placed second in the shot put with a toss of 50 feet, nine inches. McBride contributed another second-place finish in the long jump at 19 feet, seven inches.

Paul Imel finished second in the 100-meter dash in 11.51 and the 400-meter dash in 51.82.

Johnson was the only conference champion for the girls team as she took the 3,200-meter run in 12-minutes, 3.29 seconds. She was also second in the 1,600-meter run in 5:25.43.

The sophomore added another second-place effort as she joined Jessica Mosier, Jill Roughia and Rose Weaver to finish as the runners-up in the 4x800-meter relay in 10:12.65.

Roughia placed second in the 800-meter run in 2:28.39, and Jessica Heitkamp was second in the 400-meter run in 1:02.95.

The girls will head back to Muncie Southside Tuesday. The boys will compete in the Muncie Central sectional Thursday.

Junior League

Pazia Speed and Kayla Phillips each turned in big games as it took Portland Forge just four innings to dispose of Americare Saturday. Forge grabbed a 15-5 win in the Portland Junior League Minor League softball contest.

Speed crushed a solo home run in the third inning for her only hit of the game. She also scored three times.

Phillips had two hits, including a double in the second inning. She scored a trio of runs. Katie Butcher, Tabee Hutzler and Sierra Weatherhead each scored two runs.

Lindsay Wellman tripled and scored twice for Americare.

Jay physicals

Jay County High School will offer physicals for athletes for the 2004-05 school year Tuesday, May 25 at 6 p.m.

Those interested in attending must pick up forms at the JCHS athletics office and return them by Friday. The cost of the physicals is $15.

For more information, contact the JCHS athletics department at (260) 726-9806.[[In-content Ad]]