Patriots reach semistate (10/20/03)

DECATUR — It’s time to set a new goal. The Patriots accomplished theirs.

The Jay County cross country team advanced to the semi-state round with a fourth-place finish at the Bellmont Regional Saturday with 113 points. No. 5 Fort Wayne Concordia took the top three spots — including a course record 14:00 for winner Alissa McKaig — to place first with 47, No. 14 Homestead was second with 80 points and Fort Wayne Northrop was third with 89.

Fort Wayne North Side also advanced as the top five teams earned a spot in Saturday’s New Haven Semi-state which will be run on the IPFW campus at 11 a.m.

Also heading to that semi-state meet are the top five finishing teams and top 15 individuals from the Delta, Elkhart Central and Marion regionals. Those teams include No. 7 DeKalb and No. 8 Northridge along with area rivals Delta and Winchester and Olympic Athletic Conference foe Huntington North.

It was a good day for the Patriots, whose top four runners all had their best times of the season.

“The girls just put in a tremendous effort,” said Jay County coach Trent Paxson, whose team won its first sectional title Tuesday. “They were pretty excited.

“(Getting to semi-state as a team) was their goal. They were pretty elated about that.”

Alyssa Johnson, the individual champion at the Bellmont Sectional, paced the Patriots in eighth place. She finished in 15:38, just two seconds behind Amber Wray of Fort Wayne North Side.

Senior Nicole VanSkyock was right on Johnson’s heels before being tripped up during the closing stages of the race. She slipped from ninth to 12th with a time of 15:50.

Freshman Allison Fullenkamp nearly gave the Patriots a third runner in the top 15. She placed 18th, crossing the line in 16:08.

Jay County freshman Jessica Mosier finished 35th in a time of 16:49, and Jill Roughia was 51st in 17:23.

“This was probably the first meet all year that (Johnson) has really had a lot of competition to run against,” said Paxson. “Her time improved well. She hasn’t peaked yet, and that’s good.”

Paxson said each of his runners seems primed to turn in a top performance at the semi-state, and he has hopes that each of the top three can challenge for a spot in the state meet.

If that were the case, the team could also extend its season for another week.

Based on regional results, it would likely take a time of 15:30 at the semi-state meet to earn a spot in this year’s state finals. Johnson advanced to the state championships last year, finishing seventh in the semi-state meet.

The top four team spots are likely to go to the four ranked squads, with the fifth and final qualifying position up for grabs.

“Now that they’ve reached a goal, we’ll set a new one,” said Paxson. “We’ll try to take the team on to state. There’s no reason to just be satisfied with where we’re at now.”

“Once you reach one goal, you always set another one to strive a little bit higher.”

South Adams

The South Adams girls cross country team finished 10th at the Bellmont Regional with a score of 218.

Haleigh Lehman, the runner-up to Johnson at the sectional meet, was the top Starfire finisher. She placed 21st with a time of 16:12.

Jaime Paul finished 47th in 17:17 to place second for South Adams. The next three Starfire runners crossed the line in a pack with Lauren Tooley 57th in 17:40, Katie Welch 58th in 17:41 and Whitney Sprunger 59th in 17:58.[[In-content Ad]]