Third at regional (10/15/07)

MUNCIE - There's no denying the Patriots brought their best. And the effort earned them a chance to see if they can improve even more.

Each of the Jay County High School girls cross country team's top four runners cut at least 20 seconds off their best career time as they all finished in the top 15 at Saturday's regional meet. Their effort pushed the team to a score of 76 points and a third-place finish at the meet hosted by Delta at the Water Bowl, earning a semi-state berth for the second straight season.

"To have the whole team go on to semi-state two years in a row is pretty amazing," said senior Amanda Johnson. "(To have four in the top 15) was exciting. I didn't know we had that many up there."

Frankton took the regional title with 63 points, and runner-up Pendleton heights was just ahead of the Patriots with 72. Also advancing to the semi-state were Wapahani (94) and the host Eagles (132), who edged Mount Vernon by a single point.

"I think we ran really great," said JCHS coach Les Bantz. "We're running our best races at the right time. ... These girls, the last two or three days in practice have been ... enjoying themselves.

"I told them the other day, "Winners expect to win.' And I think they came out here with the idea that they wanted to win this thing, and they showed it."

Sectional champion Alysha Miller ran out to the front as she tried to bring home a regional crown to Jay County as well. She led the field through almost the entire race before senior Candace DeLong of champion Frankton passed her in the final kilometer.

Miller held on to second place until the home stretch, where Pendleton Heights freshman Hannah Douglas barely pushed passed her. Douglas finished second in 19:42.13, and Miller, also a freshman, placed third in 19:44.4, improving upon her career-best time by 26 seconds.

DeLong pulled away for the victory in 19-minutes, 36.21 seconds.

"She's just awful tough. She was determined she was going to win today," said Bantz. "She's not going to let anybody beat her, she's going to make them beat her. She had a great race."

Johnson ran a smart race, staying in the pack behind Miller early on and hanging around seventh place for most of the 5K course. She was up to sixth after the field's second lap around the lake at the Water Bowl, and then surged past a pair of runners to climb to fourth.

She held that spot the rest of the way, finishing 10 seconds behind Miller and two in front of Frankton's Heather Herrmann in 19:54.45.

"Amanda ran a really pretty strong race," said Bantz. "I like that type of racing - run with your head that first two-thirds or three-fourths of the race, and then you've got to run with your heart and lay it on the line. Most of them have got that concept. I'm just thrilled to death to be going to the semi-state."

The Wellman sisters - Kylie, a junior, and Leah, a freshman - ran the same style as Johnson, starting back in the pack around 15th and 20th respectively.

By the mid-point of the race Kylie Wellman had move up to 12th, and from there she quickly took down three more runners to improve to ninth. Leah Wellman climbed to 18th at the halfway point and was challenging for 17th.

Kylie Wellman ended up 10th for the Patriots, turning in the largest improvement of the day with a career-best by 34 seconds in 20:31.9.

Leah Wellman rallied in the final kilometer, passing four runners to move up to 14th. She picked off one more on the home stretch as she finished 13th in 20:40.81 to break her career-best mark by 22 seconds, and wasn't far from catching Mount Vernon's Amanda Jones (11th - 20:37.41) and Frankton's Danielle Jeske (12th - 20:38.71).

"I'm really excited our team made it out of regional," said Kylie Wellman "It's pretty awesome.

"I have to give it to coach. He's done a lot for us. He knows the workouts we have to do. Even though we don't like them all the time, he knows what he's doing. He helps us out a lot."

Junior Cassie Laux rounded out the Patriot team score in 52nd with a time of 23:15. Brittany Burris finished 55th in 23:29, and Katie Butcher took 64th in 24:11.

The Patriots advance to Saturday's semi-state meet hosted by New Haven at IPFW, where Wellman said she's hoping they can match the benchmark they set last season. The 2006 JCHS squad was considered by many to be an also-ran, but proved that thinking wrong when it finished just two positions short of a state berth in seventh place.[[In-content Ad]]