Miller leads JC (10/20/2008)

MUNCIE - Cassie Laux has been on the borderline all year.

She's sometimes among the Patriots top five, sometimes not.

On Saturday, the senior came up with the most important No. 5 finish of her career.

Laux's 30th-place finish at The Water Bowl clinched Jay County High School's first regional title in girls cross country.

"This is a huge goal for us as a team," said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy, whose team won just the 10th regional title for the school in any sport. "This is something the girls were very hungry for. This is why they go through the stuff they go through throughout the year ... to get to this point. We knew it was going to be a really, really tight meet. We knew it was going to come down to who had the most heart that last mile."

The Patriots finished with 61 points, 16 fewer than runner-up Pendleton Heights in the 10-team field. Mount Vernon (95) was third followed by host Delta (98) and Winchester (134).

The 2008 squad battled illnesses and injuries throughout the year and did not rack up the number of invitational wins recorded by previous teams. But it is perfect in the postseason, with Olympic Athletic Conference, sectional and regional titles.

Jay County will run in the semi-state meet at IPFW for the third straight season Saturday at 1 p.m.

"I think it's that they fought tooth and nail for everything they've achieved," said McEvoy of his team's run of tournament success. "When we're healthy we're as good as anybody around. ... They're just tough-minded. They've looked at it as a challenge."

The season came to an end for Tevan Nichols of the JCHS boys team. He finished 39th out of 74 runners in 18-minutes, 11 seconds.

The top five teams and top 15 individuals earn regional berths.

"That's a good accomplishment for him to get here," said McEvoy of Nichols, who was the first JCHS boy to reach a regional meet in about 20 years. "He got some experience to kind of see there is a next level after this, and even a level after that. That's got to start being the bigger picture for us ... This is a good foundation for that. Hopefully next year we this can help build our program up."

While Laux finished off the championship run for Jay County's girls, sophomore Aly Miller again led the team.

The sectional champion again ran out to the front of the pack, leading early on in the race. After the first trip around the pond at The Water Bowl she was neck-and-neck with Yorktown's Alexis Hunt, and then stayed that way for most of the race.

Hunt (19:43) finally pulled away slightly down the home stretch, and Miller finished as the regional runner up in 19:49. It was her best time of the season.

"Aly ran a great race," McEvoy said. "She broke that 20-minute mark. ...

"That was a real good battle. The first mile she slowed down a little bit, which I thought was good. She had a little more kick at the end. They battled throughout the entire race ... and it came down to the last 100 meters and (Hunt) just had a couple steps on her."

Leah Wellman, also a sophomore, was just as impressive.

She sat back in the pack early, running around the No. 15 spot after the first mile. But as the race progressed she made her move, pushing all the way to seventh place with just under a mile to go.

And she still had more left, picking off two more runners and taking fifth place in 20:19.

That time was nearly a minute faster than Tuesday, when she was sixth in the sectional meet.

"That's Leah," said McEvoy. "She knows that those girls will come back to her. She's not going to get caught up in a first-mile scramble. ... She gets quicker and quicker and quicker and she's got her best stuff at the end. ... For a sophomore to be that tough and race that smart consistently ... says a lot about her."

Freshman Katie Simmons and senior Kylie Wellman ran close to each other the entire race and finished back-to-back. Simmons was 18th in 21:22, and Wellman was sixth seconds back in 19th.

Then it was Laux's turn as she ran just ahead of junior teammate Kari Hemmelgarn throughout the race.

At Tuesday's sectional meet Hemmelgarn was the No. 5 runner for the Patriots, but Laux took the spot at the regional with her time of 22:02. Hemmelgarn followed just six seconds back in 31st, and Logan Laux was 41st at 22:37.

"Cassie is always in that group and always in that battle," said McEvoy of the in-team competition for the fifth scoring position. "And she got the fifth-place score today, which is huge for us. That fifth spot is the spot. That tacks on the most points for your team every time. She knew what the goal was. ... She put herself there."

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