Stars place 16th, Jay 19th

FORT WAYNE - The course was perfect for an all-terrain vehicle. Running on it was not so easy.

Trudging through a muddy, water-logged course Saturday at IPFW, the South Adams and Jay County high school girls cross country teams finished 16th and 19th respectively in the semi-state meet hosted by New Haven.

The SAHS girls finished with 483 points in the 20-team meet while the Patriots had 532, finishing ahead of only Delta (556). Carroll won the title easily with 57 points ahead of West Noble (122), 2008 champion Northridge (128), DeKalb (144) and Huntington North (158).

The top five teams and top 15 individuals earned spots in the state meet.

"You've got to come as mentally focused and ready as possible to compete at that level," said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy, whose team was 16th last season, 14th in 2007 and seventh in 2006. "For whatever reason we weren't in that place Saturday. We didn't compete as well as we probably should have. We just didn't have a good race overall."

In the boys race, Evan Liechty of the Starfires was 57th while the Patriots' Tevan Nichols finished 115th.

Concord finished as the champion with 103 points followed by Huntington North (125), Bishop Dwenger (128), St. Joseph (131) and Snider (178).

Although he was never in contention for a state berth, Liechty's effort was the best among the local runners.

The freshman crossed the finish line in 17 minutes, 33.27 seconds for his 57th-place finish in a field of 155 runners. The final state qualifying spot went to Huntington North's Austin Roberts in 16:45.

Liechty finished 12th in both the sectional meet at Bellmont and the regional meet hosted by Marion this season.

"Evan ran a pretty solid race," said SAHS coach Clint Anderson of Liechty, who won the Allen County Athletic Conference boys title this year. "His first mile was a little faster than what we anticipated it being, ... after one time around the course had deteriorated quite a bit, and it probably helped to have a quicker first lap. He should be pretty happy with his season. He learned a lot about post season running by getting as far as he did. We've just uncovered a tip of what Evan is capable of."

In the girls race both the Starfire and Patriot teams got pushed to the back half of the field early and finished below their seeds.

Sawyer Shane led the sectional runner-up South Adams girls team, which was seeded 14th, in 71st place. She finished in 21:33, and Kristen Muselman joined her in the top with a time of 22:08 for 98th.

Hannah Moore was 117th in 22:44, Jenna Smith finished 130th in 23:17 and Adrianna Teeter was 151st in 25:01 to round out the Starfire team score.

"I think we were a bit off," said Anderson. "Some of that was because of course conditions, but I also think our mindset was off. We have to get beyond the point of just being happy to get to semi-state and start attacking that meet like we do any other. It would have taken a monumental effort on our part to finish in the top ten, but just a solid effort would have put us close. It just wasn't there."

Jay County's girls had a tough end to a season that included their second straight regional title, fourth straight sectional title and sixth straight Olympic Athletic Conference title. They were seeded 16th, but finished behind regional rivals Mount Vernon, Muncie Central and Pendleton Heights.

Senior Kari Hemmelgarn proved to be tough for the Patriots in the difficult conditions. For the first time in her career she led the team, finishing 25 seconds ahead of the rest of the squad to place 109th in 22:26.

"That's what you want out of your seniors," said McEvoy. "She's had four shots (at semi-state), so she kind of knew (what to expect).

"You really want your seniors to be tough, and she's ... the one girl who went out on top."

Sophomore Katie Simmons, who was second in the sectional and fifth in the regional, placed 120th at 22:51, and Logan Laux placed 124th in 22:59. Leah Wellman was 134th in 23:29, and Liz Lennartz completed the JCHS team score in 135th with a time of 23:36.

Nichols battled his body as well as the sloppy semi-state course after suffering a hamstring pull during practice earlier in the week. He gutted out the race, reaching the finish line in 18:29 for his 115th-place effort.

"He ran hard," said McEvoy. "He wasn't at 100 percent, but he did a nice job of fighting through it and finishing the race."

Also running for the girls teams were Megan Taylor (137th - 23:45) and Julie Valentine (153rd - 25:09) for Jay County, and Emily Miller (152nd - 25:03) and Brooke Kirchhofer (156th - 25:29) for the Starfires.[[In-content Ad]]