July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Jay County dominates Bellmont sectional (10/11/06)
JCHS cross country
Jay County dominates Bellmont sectional (10/11/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
DECATUR - Southern Wells coach Gary McFarren stood near the finish line, watching the runners round the corner to the home stretch and gauging his team's chances at a sectional repeat. His hopes were quickly squashed.
McFarren watched Jay County's runners flood the finish line as five Patriots finished in the top 13 in the girls race at the Bellmont cross country sectional Tuesday.
So it was JCHS coach Les Bantz who was clapping at the end of the race as his team avenged last year's nine-point loss to Southern Wells with four season-best times and a resounding 33-point victory. The win marked just the third girls cross country sectional championship in school history for Jay County, and kept the championship rotation intact.
The Patriots, host Squaws and Raiders have taken turns with the sectional trophy, with Bellmont winning in 2001 and '04, Southern Wells in '02 and '05 and Jay County in '03 and '06.
"I am thrilled to death to be honest," said Bantz. "I felt good about the race. I thought we could win it, but I didn't think it would be that dominant really.
"It's all to their credit. They've worked hard. They've done what they've been asked.
"The girls have got an air of confidence about themselves that they can get the job done."
The Patriots finished with 40 points, Southern Wells was a distant second with 73 and New Haven took third with 101. Also advancing to Saturday's regional meet by placing in the top five were Norwell (107) and Bellmont (116).
South Adams finished seventh with 155 points in the nine-team field.
Those top five teams and the top 15 individual runners will compete along with those advancing from the Woodlan sectional. That grouping includes 13th-ranked Concordia Lutheran.
In 10 races this season, the Patriot girls have finished first or second nine times.
"After today I think we have a good chance at advancing," Bantz said, whose team has a 64-8 record. "It's so much tougher Saturday, but I think we're a little better than a few of the teams that beat us last year."
Jay County swiped the title from Southern Wells despite losing its No. 1 runner from last season, Alyssa Johnson. Amanda Johnson, Alyssa's sister, Kylie Wellman and Jessica Mosier each moved up one position, and the Patriots were helped greatly by the return of senior Allison Fullenkamp from injury and the addition of freshman Kari Hemmelgarn.
Hemmelgarn rounded out the JCHS top five Tuesday in 13th place out of 63 participants. The team's No. 5 runner last season placed 41st.
"It's exciting," said Amanda Johnson, who finished as the sectional runner-up. "With our No. 1 runner leaving a lot of people thought that we wouldn't be as good. A lot of the help this year has been fighting for the varsity spots. We have more depth."
Johnson, who placed fifth a year ago, was sixth early in the race, but pushed to third at the one-mile mark behind Kayla Sweet of Norwell and Meghan Prible of Southern Wells. She took over second place by the time the runners headed to the woods on the north side of Bellmont High School for the second time and stayed solid the rest of the way.
Johnson finished two seconds behind champion Sweet in 15-minutes, 38 seconds. Her time was a season best by 13 seconds and was 39 seconds better than a year ago.
Prible (16:05), Katherine Pea of Fort Wayne South Side (16:11) and South Adams' Haleigh Lehman (16:14) followed Johnson before Patriots filled half of the next eight positions.
Wellman stayed three runners behind Johnson throughout most of the race as she also put up her best time of the season. She knocked five seconds from her time at the Union City Invitational and 26 from a year ago as she took sixth place in 16:21.
Mosier ran out to a fast start and finished eighth, less than a second behind Jordan DeLong of the host Squaws, in 16:36.
"We came in with a bang and went out with a bang," said Mosier as she stood next to fellow senior Fullenkamp, referencing the sectional titles they won during their freshman and senior seasons. "I'm really glad. I was shooting for top 10 and I got what I wanted to."
Fullenkamp and Hemmelgarn made all the difference this year. In 2005 the Patriots' No. 4 and 5 runners scored 57 points. This season, the senior and freshman combined for just 24.
As a freshman in 2003, Fullenkamp was one of Jay County's top runners. She finished fifth in the sectional in 16:29, but suffered a knee injury during that year's track season and did not return to full-time action until the 2006 track campaign.
But she has been back strong this season, and ran her typical race Tuesday.
Fullenkamp started in the midst of a mammoth pack, running in about 30th place. By the mile mark she was still at 26th, but then she started to motor past a good portion of the field. She knocked off half of the runners in front of her, including a pair from Southern Wells, and outran Norwell's Katy Moore to the finish to place 11th.
Her time of 16:41 was a team-best 28 seconds faster than her previous top mark this season.
"Coach says that I run my race, that I start off slow and then I just pick everybody off in the middle," Fullenkamp said. "I guess I don't really notice it, but I just try not to start out so fast so then I can speed up in the middle and then go towards the end. I just was aiming for all the Southern Wells girls in front of me. That was my goal, to get those girls."
Hemmelgarn stayed right behind her senior teammate throughout the race and was still there at the finish. She crossed the line in 16:42, a career-best by 20 seconds, to take 13th.
"That's my style of running," said Bantz of his No. 4 and 5 runners. "That's what I encourage them to do. Kari has just keyed off of Allison all season long. ... Allison runs smart."
Also running for Jay County were Tina Gingrasso (28th - 17:26) and Jenna Valentine (41st - 18:15).
Joining Lehman for South Adams were Allison Beitler (16h - 16:45), Taylor Turner (44th - 18:20), Katie Welch (45th - 18:30) and Rachel Sprunger (48th - 18:43).[[In-content Ad]]DECATUR - Jay County's boys cross country team ended a difficult season Tuesday while the South Adams Starfires earned one more week of action.
South Adams placed fourth with 114 points at the Bellmont boys cross country sectional with the top five teams earning berths in Saturday's regional.
Jay County was last out of nine teams with 221 points.
Bellmont took the title from defending champion Norwell in a tight race, 42-44. New Haven was third with 59, and Fort Wayne South Side placed fifth with 146.
Nathan Rupp's 17th-place finish led South Adams, but three more teammates followed in the next six places to help the Starfires earn a regional berth. Alex Brito was 20th in 17:55, Aaron Lehman finished 22nd in 18:12 and Brian Lehman was 23rd with a time of 18:13. Sam Heckard rounded out the team score in 32nd at 18:55.
Four of the top five teams had all of their runners in before Brady Mills crossed the finish line for Jay County. He was 34th in 19-minutes, 12 seconds, with Tevan Nichols right behind him in 35th in the 61-runner field at 19:13.
They were followed by Ty Fullenkamp (49th - 21:11), Josh Selvey (50th - 21:29) and Branden Brinton (53rd - 21:54). Also running for the Patriots were Devin Willoughby (58th - 22:56) and Dylan Cook (61st - 26:37).
Jay County finished in the bottom spot in each of its last six races, posting a 3-70 record for the year.
McFarren watched Jay County's runners flood the finish line as five Patriots finished in the top 13 in the girls race at the Bellmont cross country sectional Tuesday.
So it was JCHS coach Les Bantz who was clapping at the end of the race as his team avenged last year's nine-point loss to Southern Wells with four season-best times and a resounding 33-point victory. The win marked just the third girls cross country sectional championship in school history for Jay County, and kept the championship rotation intact.
The Patriots, host Squaws and Raiders have taken turns with the sectional trophy, with Bellmont winning in 2001 and '04, Southern Wells in '02 and '05 and Jay County in '03 and '06.
"I am thrilled to death to be honest," said Bantz. "I felt good about the race. I thought we could win it, but I didn't think it would be that dominant really.
"It's all to their credit. They've worked hard. They've done what they've been asked.
"The girls have got an air of confidence about themselves that they can get the job done."
The Patriots finished with 40 points, Southern Wells was a distant second with 73 and New Haven took third with 101. Also advancing to Saturday's regional meet by placing in the top five were Norwell (107) and Bellmont (116).
South Adams finished seventh with 155 points in the nine-team field.
Those top five teams and the top 15 individual runners will compete along with those advancing from the Woodlan sectional. That grouping includes 13th-ranked Concordia Lutheran.
In 10 races this season, the Patriot girls have finished first or second nine times.
"After today I think we have a good chance at advancing," Bantz said, whose team has a 64-8 record. "It's so much tougher Saturday, but I think we're a little better than a few of the teams that beat us last year."
Jay County swiped the title from Southern Wells despite losing its No. 1 runner from last season, Alyssa Johnson. Amanda Johnson, Alyssa's sister, Kylie Wellman and Jessica Mosier each moved up one position, and the Patriots were helped greatly by the return of senior Allison Fullenkamp from injury and the addition of freshman Kari Hemmelgarn.
Hemmelgarn rounded out the JCHS top five Tuesday in 13th place out of 63 participants. The team's No. 5 runner last season placed 41st.
"It's exciting," said Amanda Johnson, who finished as the sectional runner-up. "With our No. 1 runner leaving a lot of people thought that we wouldn't be as good. A lot of the help this year has been fighting for the varsity spots. We have more depth."
Johnson, who placed fifth a year ago, was sixth early in the race, but pushed to third at the one-mile mark behind Kayla Sweet of Norwell and Meghan Prible of Southern Wells. She took over second place by the time the runners headed to the woods on the north side of Bellmont High School for the second time and stayed solid the rest of the way.
Johnson finished two seconds behind champion Sweet in 15-minutes, 38 seconds. Her time was a season best by 13 seconds and was 39 seconds better than a year ago.
Prible (16:05), Katherine Pea of Fort Wayne South Side (16:11) and South Adams' Haleigh Lehman (16:14) followed Johnson before Patriots filled half of the next eight positions.
Wellman stayed three runners behind Johnson throughout most of the race as she also put up her best time of the season. She knocked five seconds from her time at the Union City Invitational and 26 from a year ago as she took sixth place in 16:21.
Mosier ran out to a fast start and finished eighth, less than a second behind Jordan DeLong of the host Squaws, in 16:36.
"We came in with a bang and went out with a bang," said Mosier as she stood next to fellow senior Fullenkamp, referencing the sectional titles they won during their freshman and senior seasons. "I'm really glad. I was shooting for top 10 and I got what I wanted to."
Fullenkamp and Hemmelgarn made all the difference this year. In 2005 the Patriots' No. 4 and 5 runners scored 57 points. This season, the senior and freshman combined for just 24.
As a freshman in 2003, Fullenkamp was one of Jay County's top runners. She finished fifth in the sectional in 16:29, but suffered a knee injury during that year's track season and did not return to full-time action until the 2006 track campaign.
But she has been back strong this season, and ran her typical race Tuesday.
Fullenkamp started in the midst of a mammoth pack, running in about 30th place. By the mile mark she was still at 26th, but then she started to motor past a good portion of the field. She knocked off half of the runners in front of her, including a pair from Southern Wells, and outran Norwell's Katy Moore to the finish to place 11th.
Her time of 16:41 was a team-best 28 seconds faster than her previous top mark this season.
"Coach says that I run my race, that I start off slow and then I just pick everybody off in the middle," Fullenkamp said. "I guess I don't really notice it, but I just try not to start out so fast so then I can speed up in the middle and then go towards the end. I just was aiming for all the Southern Wells girls in front of me. That was my goal, to get those girls."
Hemmelgarn stayed right behind her senior teammate throughout the race and was still there at the finish. She crossed the line in 16:42, a career-best by 20 seconds, to take 13th.
"That's my style of running," said Bantz of his No. 4 and 5 runners. "That's what I encourage them to do. Kari has just keyed off of Allison all season long. ... Allison runs smart."
Also running for Jay County were Tina Gingrasso (28th - 17:26) and Jenna Valentine (41st - 18:15).
Joining Lehman for South Adams were Allison Beitler (16h - 16:45), Taylor Turner (44th - 18:20), Katie Welch (45th - 18:30) and Rachel Sprunger (48th - 18:43).[[In-content Ad]]DECATUR - Jay County's boys cross country team ended a difficult season Tuesday while the South Adams Starfires earned one more week of action.
South Adams placed fourth with 114 points at the Bellmont boys cross country sectional with the top five teams earning berths in Saturday's regional.
Jay County was last out of nine teams with 221 points.
Bellmont took the title from defending champion Norwell in a tight race, 42-44. New Haven was third with 59, and Fort Wayne South Side placed fifth with 146.
Nathan Rupp's 17th-place finish led South Adams, but three more teammates followed in the next six places to help the Starfires earn a regional berth. Alex Brito was 20th in 17:55, Aaron Lehman finished 22nd in 18:12 and Brian Lehman was 23rd with a time of 18:13. Sam Heckard rounded out the team score in 32nd at 18:55.
Four of the top five teams had all of their runners in before Brady Mills crossed the finish line for Jay County. He was 34th in 19-minutes, 12 seconds, with Tevan Nichols right behind him in 35th in the 61-runner field at 19:13.
They were followed by Ty Fullenkamp (49th - 21:11), Josh Selvey (50th - 21:29) and Branden Brinton (53rd - 21:54). Also running for the Patriots were Devin Willoughby (58th - 22:56) and Dylan Cook (61st - 26:37).
Jay County finished in the bottom spot in each of its last six races, posting a 3-70 record for the year.
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