Miller, Jay take titles (10/10/07)

MUNCIE - The location was different, but the result was the same.

Jay County High School's cross country teams made the move this year from the Bellmont sectional to the tournament hosted by Delta. The Patriot girls were just as dominant at the Water Bowl, earning their second straight sectional title with 41 points.

Alysha Miller of Jay County also walked away with the individual title - senior Amanda Johnson was right behind her as the runner-up - as the team put four runners in the top seven and finished 24 points ahead of runner-up Wapahani. Muncie Central edged Delta for third place, 88-89, and Randolph Southern was fifth with 107.

"It's exciting," said Johnson of the second straight team title and fourth in school history. "It was a big confidence booster. Coach kept saying this was going to be a strong year, but after losing four of our top seven from last year I was kind of skeptical.

"Being here for the first time my senior year after being used to the Bellmont sectional kind of freaked me out a little. But we proved to ourselves that we don't need that perfect, flat Bellmont course."

Jay County lost four of its top seven girls from last year's team, which had all five runners finish in the top 13 at the sectional meet, and then lost another as sophomore Kari Hemmelgarn suffered a season-ending knee injury during the summer. But the Patriots were still able to follow up last year's 33-point win at Bellmont with another championship.

"The girls just had a great race, a smart race," said JCHS coach Les Bantz. "It was a little fast on the first mile, but I'll take it.

"They just wanted to win today. I talked to (the team about making a statement today, and they did. ... I'm real proud of them."

The top five teams and top 15 individuals all advance to Saturday's regional meet, which will also be held at the Water Bowl. They will be joined by the top five teams - champion Frankton, Pendleton Heights, Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Liberty Christian - and the top 15 individuals from the Pendleton Heights sectional.

With just three runners, the Jay County boys team does not post a team score. Still, the race marked the best effort for the Patriots in recent seasons as Tevan Nichols narrowly missed a regional berth by finishing 16th.

The host Eagles won the team title with 31 points, just five fewer than runner-up Muncie Southside. Muncie Central was a distant third with 117.

Miller and Johnson were in the lead group of four for the Jay County girls from the start and by the time they made their first lap around the water at the Water Bowl Johnson was in front with Miller second. They traded the lead back-and-forth, with Miller eventually pulling ahead for good while Johnson dropped to third.

The Patriots' freshman star went unchallenged at the finish to win the title in 20-minutes, 14 seconds.

"It makes me feel special," said Miller of her victory. "At first it was really fast. Then about halfway through I almost didn't make it, but I felt a lot stronger at the end.

"It's really cool (to win the team title). It's exciting.

"I want to break 20 (minutes) really bad (at regional). And I hope we go on to semi-state."

Johnson rallied back from third to pass Natalie Dudley of Wapahani and take second place in 20:22.37. Dudley took third in 20:24.28.

"I'm thrilled to death. Boy, I'm glad I've got her," said Bantz of Miller. "She's just all about being tough. She's pretty focused most of the time.

"I don't think a month or three weeks ago (Miller or Johnson) would have beat Dudley, but today they both decided they wanted to beat her."

Sisters Kylie and Leah Wellman, a junior and freshman respectively, got off to a little bit slower start before steadily moving up. They were both between 15th and 20th early on, but had moved up to eighth (Kylie) and 10th (Leah) at the mid-point.

Kylie quickly surged to sixth place, and held that spot the rest of the way as she finished in 21:05. Leah made her move on the second lap around the water, pushing all the way to seventh place to finish right behind her sister with a time of 21:10.

"I was thrilled to death for Kylie," said Bantz. "She's still fighting some (health problems).

"Leah ... she's gotten better just about every meet."

Brittany Burris rounded out the team score in 28th at 23:07.

Nichols ran the best race of his career, staying around 20th most of the way. He had moved to 18th by the turn to the home stretch, where he sprinted past Zac Yarger of Delta and Joe Coombes from Muncie Central to place 16th in 18:23.

Although he fell one spot short of a regional berth - Delta's Seth Moore was 15th in 18:18 - he still shattered his career best time. His finish was also a huge improvement as a whole for the Patriots, who had not had a runner finish inside of the top 30 in any of the last four seasons.

"He didn't make it, but he had 53-second (personal record) today," said Bantz. "I knew it was in him. I'm just real pleased with him.

"He ran a great race and it showed."

Joining Nichols in the boys race for Jay County were Branden Brinton in 52nd at 20:32 and Jacob Heitkamp in 60th in 21:48.

Also running for the Patriot girls were Katie Butcher (21st - 23:07) and Cassie Laux (35th - 23:56.[[In-content Ad]]