JC girls place 6th in talented field (09/11/06)

HARTFORD CITY - Jay County's girls cross country team posted all season-best times in a race which will probably cause a shake-up in the state poll.

The Patriots were sixth out of 16 teams at the Blackford Invitational with 171 points, finishing just one spot behind top-ranked Westfield (160). Seventh-ranked Carroll won with 51 points and was followed by No. 13 DeKalb (66), No. 17 Huntington North (84) and Andrean (98).

Saturday's results weren't as kind to the Jay County boys, who finished last in the 17-team field with 494 points. Fort Wayne South Side (442) was 16th while Pendleton Heights scored 86 for a five-point win over DeKalb.

Junior Amanda Johnson was the lone Patriot runner in the top 25 in the loaded girls race. Pushed by the outstanding competition, she ran nearly a minute faster than her previous best of the season to place 14th in 15-minutes, 51 seconds.

Kylie Wellman knocked 40 seconds off her best time of the season as she finished 27th in 16:28. Jess Mosier was just three seconds behind her teammate, improving another 30 seconds to finish in 16:31.

Allison Fullenkamp hacked 23 seconds off her best of the season as she placed 49th in 17:13. Kari Hemmelgarn improved by nearly 50 seconds to finish just behind Fullenkamp in 50th at 17:19.

Brady Mills had the top finish for the Jay County boys in 86th with a time of 19:24. Tevan Nichols took 89th in 19:33.

Josh Selvey placed 104th in 21:27, Ty Fullenkamp was 105th in 21:30 and Branden Brinton was 110th in 22:53.

Also running for the girls team were Cassie Laux (62nd - 18:04) and Brittany Burris (63rd - 18:04).

In the junior varsity girls race, Tina Gingrasso placed 15th in 17:52. She was trailed by Jenna Valentine (23rd - 18:34), Kristen Selvey (31st - 19:04) and Paige Klinger (64th - 21:08).[[In-content Ad]]