Sophomore surprise (05/18/07)

MUNCIE - Surprise, surprise.

Jay County's boys track team had a year of growing pains.

It opened 0-4, placed sixth at the eight-team Blackford Invitational and finished last at the Olympic Athletic Conference meet. The Patriots were shut out of the win column in the Blackford and OAC meets.

But at the 12-team Muncie Central sectional Thursday JCHS came alive as sophomores Brandon Reynard and Andrew Lancaster won titles in leading the Patriots to a fourth-place finish.

Jay County qualified six athletes for regional action and scored 76 points to finish behind champion Muncie Southside (174), Muncie Central (107) and Delta (99.5). Winchester was fifth with 56.

"The highlight of course was Reynard and Lancaster getting first, because I didn't have any of us winning," said Patriot coach Greg Garringer, whose team finished fifth a year ago and sixth in 2005. "I was hoping for a good day ... I knew Burris and Winchester were going to push us (for fourth place). We had some nice surprises. Some guys stepped up.

"I hope that we can build on this. We took our lumps this year, but hopefully the guys matured and focused."

Reynard was strictly a sprinter at the start of the season, but decided to try his hand at the hurdles. That choice turned out to be a good one.

He led the field coming out of the turn and never faltered as he won the 300 hurdles by more than a second in 40.51 seconds.

"He's so quick between the hurdles that it helped him early on," said Garringer. "And he's such a competitor too, that when he got beat a couple times by some kids he went back and really worked on his form. That really helped him a lot."

Lancaster wasn't thrilled with his effort in the shot put, an event in which each of the top eight finishers were well short of their seed distances. But he made the most of his final throw on the chilly, windy evening, launching the shot 42 feet, 5 inches to take the title by just 11/2 inches.

It marked the third consecutive sectional shot put crown for Jay County, following back-to-back championships by current Hanover College freshman Joseph Vormohr.

"We knew ... going in 45 would probably win it ... if it was a good day," said Garringer. "The other teams weren't throwing very well and that opened the door for us. Both of our discus guys had (personal records) ... and Lancaster came out of nowhere in the shot. It was one of those days, but I'm glad it was us and not one of the other teams."

Lancaster added a fourth-place finish in the discus with a toss of 124 feet, 5 inches to make him one of four Patriots to advance to the regional in two individual events. He was just ahead of teammate Travis Theurer, who took fifth with a career-best toss of 121 feet, 10 inches.

In addition to his hurdle win, Reynard and junior Sean Hatzell gave Jay County two regional qualifiers in the 100 dash. It was an Olympic Athletic Conference sweep in the event with Kenton Bennett (11.24) and Bruce Evans (11.78) of Southside first and second followed by Reynard (11.94) and Hatzell (12.01) in third and fourth.

Hatzell was fourth coming off the turn in the 200 dash, but pushed into a battle for second place and edged Seth Huffman of Southside by four hundredths of a second with a runner-up time of 24.03.

Dexter Shreve, a sophomore, also qualified in a pair of individual events. He was just one of three athletes to clear the bar at 6 feet in the high jump, placing third behind Josh Haskins (6 feet, 3 inches) and Bennett (6 feet, 1 inch) of Southside.

Perhaps the biggest surprise from Shreve came in the 400 dash, an event he has only competed for a handful of meets. He was seeded 10th, but dominated his heat in 53.77 to finish in fourth place overall.

"He had a little success in the 4x400 at Blackford and was pretty excited about his split," said Garringer of Shreve, who also placed fifth in the long jump at 19 feet, 61/4 inches.

"He ran a great time tonight in the second heat to get himself through to the regional."

Reynard and Hatzell each qualified in a pair of relays as well. They joined Shreve and Lance Franklin for fourth in the 4x400 relay in 3-minutes, 40.77 seconds, and teamed with Franklin and Ruben Vela to finish fourth in the 4x100 relay at 46.49.

"Some of these guys have legit shots at the record board," said Garringer. "I know some of the girls are getting some of those (school) records now, and we'd like to have our turn too.

"We're really, really young. The maturity hopefully will come and in a year or two if these guys stay focused we have the potential.

"Some of these guys will get educated next week, and that's good for these young guys. It'll let them know what they need to work towards."

Brady Mills, Tevan Nichols, Jeremiah Cotherman and Steven Kelly teamed for seventh in the 4x800 relay with a time of 9:36.01.

Mills also finished eighth in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:27.93.[[In-content Ad]]