Jay 7th at semi-state (10/23/06)

FORT WAYNE - Les Bantz saw a prediction that his team would finish 16th. He thought his Patriots better than that, and they proved him right.

Jay County's girls cross country team finished 187 points ahead of 16th-place Northeastern, finishing seventh at the New Haven semi-state meet held at IPFW.

The Patriots scored 205 points, and were just two places away from the top five necessary to advance to the state meet. No. 19 Huntington North earned that final spot with 158 points.

"The team camaraderie has a lot to do with it," said Bantz. "They enjoy each other's company so much. They just wanted this thing to go on as long as it could possibly go. They just keep putting in the effort."

Fourth-ranked Northridge (56) won the semi-state title with No. 10 Carroll (84) second, No. 13 Concordia Lutheran (86) third and No. 17 DeKalb (106) fourth. Carroll's Chelsea Blanchard won the individual semi-state title by a solid margin, finishing six seconds ahead of Richmond's Sara Terashima in 14:17.

JCHS hurdled a couple of teams which finished ahead of it a week earlier at the Bellmont regional. The Patriots were second among teams from Bellmont at the semi-state as they jumped in front of Homestead (10th - 274) and Northrop (11th - 288).

Junior Amanda Johnson paced the Jay County effort by barely edging Natalie Dudley of Wapahani, which won the Delta regional crown a week earlier. She finished in 16:01.2, just one tenth of a second ahead of Dudley.

Sophomore Kylie Wellman narrowly missed putting up her best time of the season on the muddy IPFW course. She was 56th out of 161 runners in 16:24, just three seconds off her sectional time.

"They ran super," said Bantz of the entire team before official results were available. "They ran great races ... I know some girls ran (personal records) on a miserable course.

"Distance running, cross country especially because it's not as much finesse as track, is just guts and endurance."

One of those personal-best times came from Jessica Mosier, a senior and one of just two runners on the current squad who ran in the semi-state in 2003. She saved her best for the final meet of her career, running four seconds better than at the Sept. 9 Blackford Invitational to finish 62nd in 16:27.

Fellow senior Allison Fullenkamp, the only other Patriot with previous semi-state experience, was just eight seconds short of the time she turned in at the Bellmont sectional for 83rd in 16:50.

Tina Gingrasso, another senior, pushed into the team's top five for just the second time this year as she placed 93rd in 16:57.

Also running for the Patriots were freshman Kari Hemmelgarn (111th - 17:15) and senior Jenna Valentine (144th - 18:30).

The seventh-place semi-state effort capped an outstanding season in which Jay County won just its third sectional title in school history. The team finished first or second in nine of its 12 meets with titles at the Bellmont Invitational, the Union City Invitational and the Olympic Athletic Conference Championship in addition to the Bellmont sectional. It went 84-17 overall for an .832 winning percentage.

"I wouldn't trade them for the state championship team," said Bantz. "I'm where I'm supposed to be at Jay County and I'm excited about it.

"I don't know what to say, I'm thrilled to death."[[In-content Ad]]