Miller seeded 25th (10/22/2008)

As the Olympic Athletic Conference, sectional and regional champions, the Patriots have spent the last several weeks as kings of the mountain. Saturday, their role will change.

When the Jay County High School girls cross country team competes in the semi-state meet hosted by New Haven at IPFW at 1 p.m., it will do so against a field that includes six state-ranked teams.

The group includes No. 2 Carroll, No. 8 Huntington North, No. 12 Northridge, No. 15 Northrop, No. 18 Riley and No. 20 Mishawaka.

Based on regional times, Carroll and Northridge enter as co-favorites for the semi-state title, while Huntington North also seems certain to pick up a state berth. That leaves the remaining three state-ranked teams to compete, along with strong non-ranked teams such as Homestead, West Noble and South Adams, to compete for the remaining two state berths.

"The top five teams are probably not touchable for us," said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy. "We're going to treat this basically like a 10-team meet, get the best finish out of the middle 10 that we can compete with. ... What we don't want to happen is we don't want to be a team that's capable of a ninth-place finish and go up there and finish 15th ... We're going to be really careful about not getting caught up in a fast first mile."

Jay County enters the meet as the No. 15 seed, but McEvoy said he's hoping differences in the regional courses account for some of that disparity. While the Patriots ran at The Water Bowl, which has several hills for the runners to compete with, at least two of the other regionals that feed in to the semi-state were contested on friendly, flat courses.

That difference would likely not be enough for the JCHS team to make a run at the top five, but it could be just what sophomore Aly Miller needs to make a run at a state berth. The top 15 individuals advance to the state finals, along with the top five teams.

"I think it's a great opportunity for her," said McEvoy. "She's coming off of some of her better races. ... I think she can be in the hunt for 15th. ... She's got another year of experience. I know last year kind of freaked her out with how fast the first mile went. I don't think she's going to do that next year. She's going to know what to expect."

Miller has led the Patriots to their three post-season titles. She was the champion at both the OAC and sectional meets, and then finished as the runner-up in the regional in a career-best time of 19-minutes, 49.92 seconds.

As a freshman in 2007, she placed 42nd at the semi-state meet.

She said that year of experience will make all the difference after being surprised by the pace of the semi-state race last season.

"I just want to go there and do the best I can do," said Miller. "Last year I definitely ... I went out way to fast. And then I just ran out. So, hopefully I'll be able to keep more of the same pace."

Miller enters Saturday's race as the No. 25 seed. The No. 15 seed, South Adams freshman Hannah Moore, ran a time of 19:24.8 in the regional meet at Marion. But Miller said she hasn't looked at times, and is instead going to run her best race and see what happens.

"Some girls can have a good race, some can have bad," she said. "You can have a good day or a bad day."

Moore and the Starfires could make a run at a state berth as they come in seeded sixth and within striking distance of No. 5 seed West Noble. South Adams' top four runners are all seeded in the top 50, and as many as three could make a run at an individual state berth if the team does not advance.

Sawyer Shane and Allison Beitler are seeded back-to-back at No. 22 and 23 following regional efforts of 19:43 and 19:44 respectively. Taylor Miller (20:21) is the No. 44 seed.

For Jay County, Miller is joined as a top-50 seed by classmate Leah Wellman.

After placing sixth in the sectional meet, Wellman ran a brilliant race to take fifth in the regional. Her time of 20:19 puts her as the No. 44 seed for the semi-state meet.

The next four Patriot runners - Kylie Wellman, Katie Simmons, Cassie Laux and Kari Hemmelgarn - are seeded between 89 and 101 in a field of about 150.

McEvoy said his team will benefit from making its third straight trip to the meet at IPFW.

"Making it to semi-state is a huge accomplishment," he said. "But now it's kind of like, 'OK, where can we go up there and actually finish at?

"They're relaxed and they're ready to compete. Experience is huge because it's run so much differently than the sectional and regional meets are ran."

[[In-content Ad]]