JC girls defeat 3

Having a couple of extra teams involved didn't do much to cut down on the Patriots' share of victories.

Sweeps of the field events and the long distance races Tuesday carried the Jay County High School girls track team to victory as it hosted a four-team meet.

JCHS won nine of 15 events overall and scored 99 points. Pendleton Heights won five of the other six events to take second with 76, ahead of New Castle (44) and Muncie Southside (9).

Freshman Maria Murphy highlighted the day by breaking a personal threshold. She had been stuck just under the 100-meter mark for weeks in the discus, but wasted little time in shattering that barrier Tuesday.

Murphy launched her first attempt of the day an impressive 109 feet, 4 ½ inches. That distance stood up for first place, and she cleared the 100-foot mark on each of her four throws.

She also finished first in the shot put, edging teammate Cara Garringer by just two inches with a winning toss of 32 feet, 7 ½ inches.

"Maria's been right under the 100-foot mark, and that's been a really big goal for her," said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy. "She had a very tough loss Saturday at the (Muncie Southside Invitational), so I think she just wanted to come back and prove herself. ... That's a big breakthrough for her."

Jordan McMillan also had two victories on the night despite not competing in all of her usual events.

The sophomore took the 200-meter dash in 26.9 seconds ahead of Ellie McCardwell of Pendleton Heights and Southside's Eboni Collins, a 2008 state qualifier in the 100 dash. She was also first at 14 feet, 2 ¾ inches in the long jump.

"That was a great time (in the 200)," said McEvoy, who held McMillan out of the 100 dash as he tried to keep his athletes fresh for Friday's Blackford Invitational.

"Running that level of competition, it's really good to come up with a win. And she won it by quite a big margin."

Lindsey Current completed the field-event sweep by taking first place in the high jump at 4 feet, 10 inches.

McMillan was second at 4 feet, 8 inches.

"Our field events are so strong with Maria and Cara and Amy (Alig) in shot and disc. Lindsey has always been strong as a jumper, and Jordan has come back," said McEvoy. "Every one of our meets we're getting a huge chunk. That's just a huge lift when your field events bring you a lead."

The Patriots were dominant in the distance races Tuesday, with different runners winning each event.

Following her first-place finish at the Southside Invitational in the 3,200 run, freshman Katie Simmons cruised to victory Tuesday in the 1,600 run. She held the lead throughout, and pulled away in the final two laps for a winning time of 5-minutes, 47 seconds.

Leah Wellman was third most of the way before rallying in the final 400 meters for second place.

Kylie Wellman dominated the 3,200 run, taking first place by 25 seconds in 12:58.4. Logan Laux added a third-place finish.

And in the 800 run Katie Butcher trailed early but claimed the lead on the first lap and won in 2:39. Leah Wellman surged in the final 300 meters to pick up another runner-up finish.

"Our distance was really strong tonight," said McEvoy. "Katie Butcher has been a great lift for us this year. She's really given us a lot in the 800. ... She's worked really hard this year and got herself in great shape."

Butcher also ran the lead leg of the 4x800 relay, building a lead that the Patriots held throughout. She teamed with Simmons, Kylie Wellman and Leah Wellman for the winning time of 10:47.2.[[In-content Ad]]