Johnsons go 1-2, Jay girls finish 2nd at Delta (09/27/04)

MUNCIE — The Johnson sisters dominated the Delta Invitational. But, the host Eagles still managed to edge Jay County.

Alyssa Johnson was first and Amanda Johnson finished second to lead the Patriot cross country team to a 44-point score, but that was still four behind the champion Eagles in the large-school division at Saturday’s six-team Delta Invitational. Jay County had won back-to-back titles at Delta, defeating the host team by six points last season.

The Jay County boys were last among the seven teams in the boys large-school division with 160 points.

South Adams also participated in the event in the small-school division, with the girls team finishing second out of six teams. The Starfires had 56 points, compared to 43 for Winchester.

The Starfire boys were fifth out of eight teams with 106 points.

Alyssa Johnson owned the field, finishing 30 seconds ahead of everyone except her sister in a time of 16-minutes, five seconds. It was the third straight win at the Delta Invitational for Johnson.

The Patriots had also taken second place in each of the last two years, with the now-graduated Nicole VanSkyock running behind Alyssa Johnson. Freshman Amanda Johnson quickly filled those shoes, finishing second this season in 16:32.

However, Delta runners finished third, fourth, sixth, 12th and 16th to take the team victory.

The No. 3 runner for Jay County was another freshman, Amber Detro, who placed ninth in 17:13. Jill Roughia was 11th in 17:14, and Jessica Mosier ran 21st in 18:18.

Sophomore Allison Fullenkamp, who has missed several races because of a knee injury, got back into the lineup as the team prepares for sectional and finished 25th in 18:30.

Ian Thomas was the top runner for the Jay County boys as he placed 21st in 19:00. Mitchel Thomas was second for the team in 32nd in 19:42.

Edwin Clott ran 34th in 19:51, Josh Atkinson was one second back in 35th and Corey Mock was 38th in 20:52.

Also running for the Patriots were: Doug Murray (43rd in 20:34) and Josh Selvey (45th in 21:49).

Kelli Whitenack was eighth in the junior varsity girls race in 20:42. Running in the boys junior varsity race for Jay County were: Josh Hawn (20th in 21:16), Cody Sutton (25th in 21:40), Josh Stultz (30th in 22:23) and Josh Shatto (36th in 24:05).

Haleigh Lehman led the South Adams girls to their second-place finish, taking second place in the small-school race in 16:28. Whitney Sprunger was 12th in 17:39, Katie Welch placed 13th in 17:49, Brittany Seeker was 16th in 18:15 and Shannon Muselman took 19th in 18:24.

A pair of Lehman’s finished third and fourth in the boys race for the Starfires. Heath Lehman was third in 17:03, with Michael Lehman fourth in 17:21.

Desmond Grimm finished 25th in 19:37, followed by Brian Lehman in 34th in 20:35 and Justin Sommer in 40th in 21:21.

The Patriots will host the Jay County Invitational Saturday at 9 a.m., and the Starfires will host the South Adams Invitational Saturday at noon.

EJ wins two, SA one

MUNCIE — Local teams took all of the middle school titles at the Delta Invitational Saturday, with East Jay winning the girls and seventh grade boys events and South Adams taking the eighth grade boys victory.

East Jay scored 51 points in the girls race, finishing 10 ahead of South Adams. West Jay was fifth with 155 points.

East Jay and Delta each had 58 points in the seventh grade boys race, but the Chiefs took first thanks to their tie-breaking sixth runner.

South Adams won the eighth grade boys race with 47 points, 11 in front of Selma. East Jay was third with 77 points.

The Starfires went one-two in the girls race, with Maddie Moore first in 12:14 and Kinsey Lengerich second in 12:19. But, it was Kyle Wellman of East Jay in third in 12:24 who led the winning team.

Following Wellman for East Jay was Tiffany Helms in 11th at 12:44. Leah Wellman was 11th in 13:07, Kassie Laux took 13th in 13:09 and Katie Butcher was 18th in 13:19.

South Adams’ No. 3 runner was Chelsey Nevil in 12:42. Taylor Turner was 16th in 13:17, and Danielle Miller was 38th in 14:21.

West Jay also placed two runners in the top 10 with Kelly Weaver eighth in 12:53 and Kristen Selvey 10th in 13:04. Brittany Burris was 42nd in 14:29, Whitney Henderson finished 49th in 15:13 and Carly Weaver was 53rd in 15:41.

Patrick Johnson paced East Jay’s seventh grade boys, taking third in 11:36. Eric Homan was seventh in 12:09.

Ben Brandt came in 18th in 12:54, Preston Roberts was two seconds behind in 18th and Adam Daniels finished 21st in 13:01.

Brad Horn clinched the win as the sixth-place runner for East Jay, finishing 27th in 13:33. Delta’s No. 6 runner was Seth Moore in 31st in 13:40.

Chris Mooney placed 10th for West Jay in 12:30, although the Eagles did not have enough runners for a team score. Jeremiah Cotherman was 14th in 12:49.

Chase Sprunger and Nathan Rupp carried the South Adams eighth grade boys to victory in fourth and fifth place respectively with times of 11:03 and 11:05. Alex Brito was 13th in 11:40, Gabe Sprunger took 14th in 11:45 and Austin Scheiner was 19th in 12:02.

East Jay’s top runner was Kyle Simmons, who took eighth in 11:23. Isaac Poole was 12th in 11:34.

Joey Franks finished 16th in 11:50, Steven Kelly was 20th in 12:05 and Chase Wellman placed 32nd in 12:46.

Brady Mills turned in the top time of all the area runners in the eighth grade boys race, placing third for West Jay in 11:00. Ty Fullenkamp was 53rd in 14:31.[[In-content Ad]]