July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
JC 2nd in sectional (10/12/05)
JCHS cross country
JC 2nd in sectional (10/12/05)
By By RAY COONEY-
DECATUR — They have a nice little rotation going.
Bellmont had dominated as the sectional host of the girls cross country meet, winning in 1997 through 2001 before Southern Wells broke the streak in 2002. Jay County took its turn in 2003, then Bellmont reclaimed the crown in 2004.
The 2005 winner? That’s right, the Southern Wells Raiders.
Southern Wells kept the five-year, three-team rotation in tact Tuesday night, outdistancing Jay County 63-72 at the nine-team Bellmont sectional. Norwell was third with 80 points, Bellmont took fourth with 108 and New Haven was fifth with 109.
South Adams was sixth with 134 points.
The top five teams and top 15 individuals advance to Saturday’s regional, which will also be run at Bellmont. Jay County’s girls will be joined by qualifiers from the Woodlan sectional, which includes No. 10 Fort Wayne Snider and No. 12 Fort Wayne Concordia.
“I’m very pleased. We’ll get a shot at them (again Saturday),” said JCHS coach Les Bantz, adding Snider and Concordia are shoe-ins for semi-state berths. “But somewhere we can figure in there. I’m excited about it.”
Jay County’s boys improved one spot over last season, moving from eighth to seventh with 180 points. South Adams was the only team to finish behind the Patriots, scoring 215.
Norwell placed six runners in the top 10 to win with 27 points, and Bellmont was second with 42. New Haven (65) finished third, Southern Wells (135) was fourth and Fort Wayne Wayne (138) finished fifth.
The Johnson sisters, senior Alyssa and sophomore Amanda, led the girls team as they ran the race with just the strategy Bantz has been preaching all season. For the first they hovered around 10th place before jumping to third and fifth respectively behind defending champion Wendey Mahlan of Bellmont and South Adams’ Haleigh Lehman near the one-mile mark.
Alyssa Johnson, who won the sectional title in 2002 and 2003, rallied past Lehman during the final mile of the race and finished second in 15-minutes, 45 seconds.
Mahlan successfully defended her title, crossing the finish line in 15:23. Lehman was third at 15:59.
“Alyssa I thought ran a very smart race,” Bantz said. “I told her to just let (Mahlan) go ... just bide your time. She did, she ran a smart race.”
The rest of the Jay County team did as well with Amanda taking fifth place at the sectional meet for the second straight season. She finished in 16:17, six seconds ahead of Meghan Prible of Southern Wells.
Freshman Kylie Wellman gave the Patriots another runner in the top 10 as she finished 10th in 16:47. Jessica Mosier improved from 26th last season and just missed earning a ribbon as she finished 16th in 17:04.
Cassie Laux completed the team score in 41st place in 18:24.
Southern Wells grabbed the title as its top five runners all finished in the top 20 — sixth, eighth, 13th, 17th and 19th.
“Cassie ran a great race for her,” said Bantz of the freshman, who posted a personal-best time by 34 seconds, “so what can you say.”
The coach said he hopes his team can make it to the semi-state round. The Patriots were semi-state qualifiers in 2003, but fell a bit short last season as they finished in sixth place in the regional meet.
“My goal is to make it out of there,” he said. “It’s definitely within our capability. Our fifth is going to have to really step up again, but I think (we’re) awful solid.”
Freshman Brady Mills was the top runner for the Jay County boys, finishing 31st in 18:52. Nathan Rupp led South Adams in 26th at 18:27.
Travis Towell followed Mills in 34th with a time of 19:00, and Josh Atkinson was 36th in 19:07. Josh Hawn took 38th as he crossed the finish line in 19:18, and Doug Murray completed the team score in 19:38.
It marked just the second time all season that all of the Patriot boys finished in less than 20:00.
“The boys I thought might be a little closer than that, but I think they ran about as well as they could,” said Bantz. “They beat South Adams, who had beat them here earlier in the season.
“I think they gave a good effort.”[[In-content Ad]]
Bellmont had dominated as the sectional host of the girls cross country meet, winning in 1997 through 2001 before Southern Wells broke the streak in 2002. Jay County took its turn in 2003, then Bellmont reclaimed the crown in 2004.
The 2005 winner? That’s right, the Southern Wells Raiders.
Southern Wells kept the five-year, three-team rotation in tact Tuesday night, outdistancing Jay County 63-72 at the nine-team Bellmont sectional. Norwell was third with 80 points, Bellmont took fourth with 108 and New Haven was fifth with 109.
South Adams was sixth with 134 points.
The top five teams and top 15 individuals advance to Saturday’s regional, which will also be run at Bellmont. Jay County’s girls will be joined by qualifiers from the Woodlan sectional, which includes No. 10 Fort Wayne Snider and No. 12 Fort Wayne Concordia.
“I’m very pleased. We’ll get a shot at them (again Saturday),” said JCHS coach Les Bantz, adding Snider and Concordia are shoe-ins for semi-state berths. “But somewhere we can figure in there. I’m excited about it.”
Jay County’s boys improved one spot over last season, moving from eighth to seventh with 180 points. South Adams was the only team to finish behind the Patriots, scoring 215.
Norwell placed six runners in the top 10 to win with 27 points, and Bellmont was second with 42. New Haven (65) finished third, Southern Wells (135) was fourth and Fort Wayne Wayne (138) finished fifth.
The Johnson sisters, senior Alyssa and sophomore Amanda, led the girls team as they ran the race with just the strategy Bantz has been preaching all season. For the first they hovered around 10th place before jumping to third and fifth respectively behind defending champion Wendey Mahlan of Bellmont and South Adams’ Haleigh Lehman near the one-mile mark.
Alyssa Johnson, who won the sectional title in 2002 and 2003, rallied past Lehman during the final mile of the race and finished second in 15-minutes, 45 seconds.
Mahlan successfully defended her title, crossing the finish line in 15:23. Lehman was third at 15:59.
“Alyssa I thought ran a very smart race,” Bantz said. “I told her to just let (Mahlan) go ... just bide your time. She did, she ran a smart race.”
The rest of the Jay County team did as well with Amanda taking fifth place at the sectional meet for the second straight season. She finished in 16:17, six seconds ahead of Meghan Prible of Southern Wells.
Freshman Kylie Wellman gave the Patriots another runner in the top 10 as she finished 10th in 16:47. Jessica Mosier improved from 26th last season and just missed earning a ribbon as she finished 16th in 17:04.
Cassie Laux completed the team score in 41st place in 18:24.
Southern Wells grabbed the title as its top five runners all finished in the top 20 — sixth, eighth, 13th, 17th and 19th.
“Cassie ran a great race for her,” said Bantz of the freshman, who posted a personal-best time by 34 seconds, “so what can you say.”
The coach said he hopes his team can make it to the semi-state round. The Patriots were semi-state qualifiers in 2003, but fell a bit short last season as they finished in sixth place in the regional meet.
“My goal is to make it out of there,” he said. “It’s definitely within our capability. Our fifth is going to have to really step up again, but I think (we’re) awful solid.”
Freshman Brady Mills was the top runner for the Jay County boys, finishing 31st in 18:52. Nathan Rupp led South Adams in 26th at 18:27.
Travis Towell followed Mills in 34th with a time of 19:00, and Josh Atkinson was 36th in 19:07. Josh Hawn took 38th as he crossed the finish line in 19:18, and Doug Murray completed the team score in 19:38.
It marked just the second time all season that all of the Patriot boys finished in less than 20:00.
“The boys I thought might be a little closer than that, but I think they ran about as well as they could,” said Bantz. “They beat South Adams, who had beat them here earlier in the season.
“I think they gave a good effort.”[[In-content Ad]]
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