Patriot runners take invite

CONVERSE — The Patriots’ pack mentality paid off.
Each of the top five Jay County High School runners finished between fifth and 12th place at Tuesday’s Oak Hill Invitational as the Patriot girls cross country team picked up its second straight title.
JCHS, which won the Celina Rotary Invitational on Aug. 25, scored 41 points to fight off Eastbrook (49) in the eight-team field.
The Patriot boys team was sixth with 157 points.
Freshman Emi Minnich led the Jay County girls with a fifth-place finish in 21 minutes, 47 seconds. Her classmate Megan Wellman followed in sixth at 21:51, and junior Abigail Johnson was seventh in 22:18.
Kaitlin Hemmelgarn finished in 23:10 for 11th place, and Kellie Fortkamp was 12th in 23:12.
Dylan Cope turned in a seventh-place finish in 18:38 to pace the JCHS boys. Michael Denney was 34th in 21:11 followed by Mathew Cox (44th – 21:31), Jacob Nichols (57th – 22:41) and Chaz Carroll (64th – 23:08).

Boys soccer wins
UNION CITY — Jay County scored six times in the opening half Tuesday as it doubled up on the Union City Indians for an 8-4 victory.
Alex Dunn powered the offense for the Patriots (3-4), who had a 6-3 lead at halftime, with a hat trick. He scored on assists from Jared Schlosser and Zane Shreve in the first half and added a goal in the second. He also had two assists.
Alex Abbott scored both of his goals for JCHS in the first half off of assists from Colton McCombs and Dunn. Brandon Poore, Schlosser and McCombs added one goal apiece, and Shreve finished with two assists.
Kevin Scott started at goalie and made one save in the opening half. Kyle Dirksen had one save in the second half.

Golfers earn split
YORKTOWN — The Patriots scored a 226 Tuesday at The Players Club to finish well behind the top-ranked Yorktown Tigers (149) but ahead of the Wes-Del Warriors (233).
Three players shared the top score for Jay County as Alysia Fennig, Whitney Gray and Maddison Baughn each shot 56. Gray had a par on the 312-yard, par-4 10th hole at TPC, and Fennig played even on the 416-yard, par-5 15th. Baughn finished with two bogeys, and Fennig and Gray each added one.
Abby Saxman carded a 58.
Kennedy Windlan of Yorktown, which is ranked No. 1 in the state, earned medalist honors with a 36.
Melanie Whitesel finished with a 48 for Wes-Del.

EJMS spikers roll
HARTFORD CITY — East Jay Middle School’s eighth grade volleyball team opened its season Tuesday with a 25-11, 25-10 victory over the Blackford Bruins.
Lizzy Schoenlein racked up 10 service points, including five aces, for the Chiefs. She also had 12 assists.
Audrey Shreve finished with eight service points and five aces, and Abby Barcus had five kills and one block. Britlyn Dues added four kills.

Crouch leads Eagles
WINCHESTER — Justin Crouch scored a pair of touchdowns Thursday in leading the West Jay eighth grade football team to a 28-8 victory over host Driver. The seventh grade game ended in an 8-8 tie.
Crouch scored on a 60-yard run in the second quarter and added a 3-yard TD run in the third. Tyler Jester and Spencer Calvert also had TD runs, and Donald Carty finished with six tackles.
Holton Hill scored the lone TD for the seventh grade team on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter, and Max Moser added the two-point conversion. Cole Stigleman ran for 69 yards and made six tackles.[[In-content Ad]]