Patriots take 1st (10/15/2008)

MUNCIE - Aly Miller ran out to the lead. Once she had it, no one came close - to her or the Patriots.

Miller won her second straight individual sectional championship Thursday in girls cross country, leading Jay County High School to its third straight title.

"Three sectionals in a row was a huge deal for us," said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy. "It was a huge goal. That's really hard to do. ... These girls have just done a tremendous job this year. They've put in the work. They've put in the time."

On the boys side, Tevan Nichols became the first Jay County runner in about 20 years to reach a regional as he finished 11th. The top five teams and top 15 individuals earn regional berths.

Miller won the girls race by 11 seconds at The Water Bowl, and the Patriots took the team title by nearly 30 points as they finished with a total of 48. Host Delta was a distant second with 77, and Winchester (104) placed third. Also advancing to Saturday's regional from the 11-team field were Randolph Southern (116) and Muncie Central (128).

It was a much improved effort for Jay County, which finished fourth out of 11 teams on the same course at the Delta Invitational.

"Until the Delta Invitational we were pretty much all on flat courses," said McEvoy. "That was really our first taste of being on a course that had a lot of elevation changes. ... After that we really started focusing on hills. We came over here and practiced on this course a couple of times. We really just tried to acclimate ourselves with that. ... They were just a little more comfortable."

With just four runners, Jay County did not post a team score on the boys side. Muncie Southside won with 45 points and will be joined at the regional by Delta (56), Wapahani (88), Muncie Central (116) and Randolph Southern (122).

Starting from the far left box, Miller ran out to the front of the pack and was never truly challenged for the top spot. She had a significant lead throughout the race and cruised down the final stretch to finish in 20-minutes, 16 seconds.

"Our goal for her is to make the other girls go out and chase her," said McEvoy. "When you're that talented and you have that big a heart and you work that hard at things she can got out and lead the race pretty comfortably. ... She's very mentally tough."

The sophomore finished 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Katherine Williams of Muncie Burris. And, her time was 25 seconds faster than at the Delta Invitational.

"It's really exciting," said Miller of her back-to-back wins and the team's three-peat. "I feel better when I'm in the lead. It gives me more confidence."

Leah Wellman ran a different style than her classmate, settling into a steady pace and then passing runners throughout. She was 10th after the first trip around the pond at The Water Bowl, but moved up to eighth as she rounded it a second time and pushed to a sixth-place finish in 21:17.

"Her first mile is not going to be blistering fast, but her last mile will be," McEvoy said. "She's going to pick people off. She picks off a ton of people in the last mile."

Jay County's next four runners all stayed close to each other for much of the way, with Katie Simmons, Kylie Wellman and Kari Hemmelgarn nearly side-by-side after the first mile.

Simmons, a freshman who was 13th at the mid-point, moved up for an 11th-place finish. Wellman, a senior, gutted out a 13th-place effort in 21:56 before needing medical attention after the race.

"Kylie's had a very tough year," said McEvoy of Wellman, who recovered enough to accept the team trophy with some aide from her teammates. "She's doing it all on heart right now. ... She gives us everything she has. She sacrifices herself for the team."

Hemmelgarn capped the Patriot team score in 21:56.

Jay County's other two runners, sisters Cassie and Logan Laux, placed 19th and 25 in times of 22:23 and 23:14 respectively in the field of 79 runners.

"That pack is probably one of the most important things that we have going for us," McEvoy said of the group behind Miller and Leah Wellman. "You get a bunch of points coming in really quickly. It bumps other teams back. There is a lot of competition between them. .. That's a great thing."

Nichols, who just missed a regional berth last season when he finished 16th, never fell out of the top 15 Tuesday. He was 13th in the early going before moving up to 10th and holding that position for most of the race.

He ended up in 11th place with a time of 17:41, which was 42 seconds faster than last season.

"It's a great step. And we knew Tevan could do it," said McEvoy. "He did a pretty good job of staying where he needed to be and he really gutted it out that last part of the race. He's a very capable runner for us and I think that's the level he should be running at. ... Hopefully this is something we can build on."

No other Patriot boy finished in the top 50. Branden Brinton (20:19) and Spencer Grady (20:24) went back-to-back in 53rd and 54th, and Zach Johnson (23:03) was 73rd.[[In-content Ad]]