Three fall to host Jay (05/03/06)

With the sectional tournament just two weeks away, Les Bantz wanted to see some competitive fire from his athletes.

The Jay County girls track team responded by winning more than their share of events — eight out of 15 — to take first place as the host of four-team action Tuesday. The Patriots scored 82 points, followed by New Castle (69), Pendleton Heights (41) and Muncie Southside (35).

“This is the kind of stuff that makes coaches happy,” said Bantz. “At Delta (April 13) we had a little bit of a problem with being competitive. They got beat right off the bat in the 4x800 and you could just tell ... they just didn’t compete the rest of the meet. Since then we’ve been a lot more competitive. We’ve just been hungry.”

Junior Jessica Mosier and sophomore Amanda Johnson led Jay County’s devouring of the visiting Trojans, Arabians and Rebels, each finishing with wins in one individual event and two relays. Two others — Sarah Mescher and Alyssa Johnson — took part in one winning relay to go along with an individual victory.

Mosier was out in front throughout the 800-meter run, holding a slim lead at the midway point. She opened the advantage on the back stretch before getting a strong challenge from New Castle as the entered the final 100 meters. But Mosier would never give up the top spot, winning in 2-minutes, 38.78 seconds.

She was also third in the high jump at four feet, eight inches.

Johnson was in a three-way battle for victory in the 1,600 run, sitting in second place with just a lap to go. But she pushed ahead halfway through that final lap and rolled to the finish line in 5:46.84 for her victory.

She added a second-place effort in the 400 hurdles in 1:04.42.

Mosier and Johnson were also in on the bookend relay wins.

They opened the night teaming with Alyssa Johnson and Allison Fullenkamp for a victory in the 4x800 relay in 10:34.47. Then they finished off the evening of competition by joining Mescher and Erika Hunt for first place in the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:25.39.

Bantz said he hopes to see more of the same from his runners in the coming weeks.

“I just want to remain competitive — (I want them) to be convinced in their own minds that they can compete with Delta and Muncie Central,” he said, adding that he was happy with the smart races his team turned in. “We were pretty solid.”

Halfway to the finish line in the 100 dash, Mescher was trailing. But she roared to the end and leaned her way to a win in 13.75 seconds in a near three-way dead heat.

Alyssa Johnson picked up another 3,200-meter run victory, but not without a fight from freshman teammate Kylie Wellman. Wellman stayed right on the senior’s heels most of the way, and they ran side-by-side for a good portion of the final lap before Alyssa Johnson eked out a one-second win in 12:28.

Bantz said it was just time to see if Wellman could stay with the three-time defending sectional champion.

“The last five meets she’s just whacked (her times) down,” he said.

Freshman Lindsey Current continued her strong showings in the high jump with a victory at four feet, 10 inches.

Fellow freshman Cori Vormohr took first in the shot put at 29 feet 31/2 inches with teammate Sara Garringer in second.

Garringer finished second in the discus with a toss of 90 feet, nine inches. Hunt was third in the 300 hurdles in 52.55.

“We had two season-bests by far in the 300 hurdles,” said Bantz of Hunt and Stephanie Wellman. “I think some of it is those girls are running some 400s. I think it’s helping them build their strength, endurance.”[[In-content Ad]]