Stars' Lehman wins boys title (10/13/04)

DECATUR — Heath Lehman had done this before. Granted, it was in swimming, but he’d still done it before.

Lehman ran just the race he needed to Tuesday, just staying in the hunt for the first 4,000 meters before easing away from the pack to win the Bellmont sectional boys cross country title. He was well in control at the end, finishing exactly six seconds ahead of Norwell’s Luke Deihll in 16-minutes, 33.99 seconds.

It was the same type of race he used to win the 500-meter boys swimming sectional championship in his sophomore season.

“He ran smart,” said South Adams boys coach Clint Anderson. “I’ve seen him before go out and try to win, and then he starts to fade. Today he ran a smart race, kind of felt everybody out and he said toward the end of the race he started feeling stronger and stronger.”

“I didn’t really plan to run it that way,” said Lehman. “I just tried to mentally prepare myself before the race, and it looks like I did a pretty decent job. I just stayed mentally up there the whole race and that’s what did it.”

Michael Lehman finished fourth for the Starfires in 16:49. The pair of Lehmans, no relation, boosted South Adams to a fourth-place finish with 134 points to earn a berth in Saturday’s Bellmont regional at 10:30 a.m.

Norwell took the team title, placing five runners in the top 11 for a dominant 34-point total. Bellmont was second with 65, followed by New Haven (71), South Adams and Fort Wayne South Side (144).

Jay County improved one spot from last season, finishing fifth with 190 points.

Also heading to the regional meet are the top five from the Woodlan sectional: No. 5 Fort Wayne Snider, Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger, Fort Wayne Northrop, Fort Wayne Concordia and Fort Wayne North Side.

The top 15 individuals from both Bellmont and Woodlan also advance, despite their team’s finish.

Heath Lehman ran just the kind of race he needed to, simply staying in the lead pack with Diehll, Bellmont’s Ryan Venderley and New Haven’s Nate Luebke through the first mile-plus. When it was time to circle the pond through the woods at Bellmont again it was down to Lehman and Diehll, and Lehman was alone with a solid lead after that lap around the water.

Diehll was never able to make a run at him down the home stretch as Lehman, who placed third last season behind Luebke and New Haven champion Troy Heileman, finished strong for the victory.

“I just felt strong throughout the whole race,” said Lehman. “I just felt nice and comfortable wherever I was — if I was leading or not. I just tried to make sure the pace was fast enough so at the end I would have enough to out-kick everybody.

“It feels pretty good.”

Anderson said he’s been waiting for Lehman to break out, and is glad he was able to get the big win in his final season.

“He’s always shown lots of promise and he’s always had the ability,” said Anderson. “I just think the immediacy of being a senior helped him out a lot.”

Michael Lehman’s fourth-place effort was an improvement of four spots over the 2003 sectional. Following the leading Lehmans for South Adams were: Desmond Grimm (36th in 18:57), Brian Lehman (45th in 19:53) and Stephen Hirschy (50th in 20:12).

Jay County showed a 30-point improvement over its 2003 sectional effort, but still fell 46 points short of a regional berth. The Patriots finished ahead of two teams this year, beating both Bluffton and Adams Central.

Ian Thomas topped the list of Jay County runners in 33rd with a time of 18:39. Edwin Clott followed, leading a pack of Jay County runners as he placed 38th in 19:12.

Cory Mock was 40th in 19:17, with Josh Atkinson 41st in 19:18 and Travis Towell 43rd in 19:22. Doug Murray placed 44th with a time of 19:29, and Mitchel Thomas was 56th in 20:42.

“I’m satisfied with the improvement we made,” said Jay County assistant coach Lea Selvey. “We moved up a spot. I’m very proud of these kids.”[[In-content Ad]]