Jay sends 11 to regional (05/16/07)

MUNCIE - Amanda Johnson is a returning state qualifier. Erika Hunt has been beaten just once in her best event all season.

Jay County's junior duo continued to lead the way Tuesday, each captuaway a sectional championship as they pushed the Patriots to a third-place finish in the meet at Muncie Southside.

While JCHS placed third for a third straight season with 95 points at the 11-team tournament, it showed more improvement by way of regional qualifiers. After sending six to the regional round in 2005 and eight last season, 11 Patriots earned top-four finishes to advance this year.

"I'm really proud of the way we performed," said first-year Jay County coach Brian McEvoy. "Just the sheer amount of girls we have going to regional is huge for us. That was a major goal when we started the season. We just wanted to advance girls in the state tournament."

Sixth-ranked Muncie Central took the top spot in half of the 16 events and won its fourth straight title with 126 points, holding off Delta (120). Muncie Burris was a distant fourth with 53 points.

Hunt had been beaten just once all season in the 100-meter hurdles, and she wasn't going to let it happen again Tuesday. She ran the fastest qualifying time and led throughout the finals to win her first sectional crown by 13 hundredths of a second over Angel Partin of Union City in 17.51 seconds.

She added a runner-up effort in the 300 hurdles in 50.36, finishing just behind Central's S'Leslie Bell and just ahead of teammate Kari Hemmelgarn (50.49).

"Erika is a tremendous leader," said McEvoy. "She does a good job leading by example. She was the favorite in the 100 and she performed like a champion should.

"She has just worked so hard and been so dedicated to becoming a better hurdler."

Johnson, who was a state qualifier in the 800 run a year ago, reached the regional round in all four of her events, including both in which she holds Jay County school records.

She turned in a successful title defense in the 800 run, cruising calmly in fourth place for much of the opening lap. She made her move in lap two as she took the lead midway down the back stretch and then held off Delta's Kelli Fullenkamp for the win in 2-minutes, 23.9 seconds.

Johnson added a third-place effort with a time of 1:02.65 in the 400 dash, and led a pair of qualifying relay teams along with seniors Jessica Mosier and Tina Gingrasso.

"Amanda is as gifted an athlete as we have on the team. ... She's very talented," said McEvoy. "She just ran smart races and really has a chance to go back to state."

Johnson, Mosier and Gingrasso joined Allison Fullenkamp for a runner-up finish in the 4x800 relay at 10:39.25, and teamed with Kari Hemmelgarn to take fourth in the 4x400 relay at 4:29.4.

All of Jay County's other individual qualifiers came in field events.

Lindsey Current and Kelsey Wood each made it through in the high jump as two of only five athletes cleared the bar at 4 feet, 10 inches. Wood made it an inch higher at 4 feet, 11 inches to earn the final qualifying spot, and Current placed third at 5 feet, 1 inch.

Current and Wood also teamed with Nicole Pfeifer and Janel Chittum to post a time of 54.51 for a third-place finish in the 4x100 relay.

Sara Garringer came up big for the Patriots in the discus despite entering the meet as the No. 8 seed. She unleashed a throw of 95 feet, 11 inches, easily earning the fourth qualifying spot in the event more than seven feet ahead of Leslie White of Burris.

"I was really happy to see that out of Sara," said McEvoy. "She's a hard worker. ... She knew that we needed points off of field events and she really came through for us in the shot and disc.

"We knew Sara was capable of that. She was on the verge of it. We just kept waiting for her to put it through ... It's really good to see a senior step up that way."

Garringer also added a fifth-place finish in the shot put. Others scoring points for the Patriots were Kylie Wellman (fifth - 3,200 run), Mosier (sixth - 800 run), Wood (sixth - long jump), Current (seventh - long jump) and Gingrasso (eighth - 400 dash).[[In-content Ad]]