Stars shine in ACAC

MONROE — Saturday belonged to the Starfires.
The South Adams High School boys and girls cross country teams both took first place in the Allen County Athletic Conference meet.
It was the sixth straight ACAC title for the Starfire boys, and the third in program history for the girls.
Jay County’s boys and girls teams both placed fifth.
“They both had a lot of incentive coming in,” SAHS coach Clint Anderson said of the Starfires. “The girls won the round robin and I think it was important to them to come in here and solidify themselves as the best team in the conference, and they did that today.
“To have as many girls in the top 15 as we did is pretty impressive, and I think that’s because they knew coming in that we needed to have a good, strong team effort.”
Olivia Von Gunten and Aleesha Goodwin have been pacing the SAHS girls all season, and they continued that trend on Saturday. They finished second and third respectively behind Lindsey Marriot of Leo. Marriott, a 2013 state qualifier as a freshman, left the rest of the field more than 30 seconds behind her time of 19 minutes, 46.29 seconds.
Kara Seffernick (fifth), Katelin Hawbaker (seventh) and Hadi Hawbaker (12th) helped the Starfires to a team score of 29 points, which was 20 points ahead of Leo. Southern Wells finished third with 71.
Lauren Klaehn (14th) and Lily Shane (16th) also ran for South Adams, which had all seven of its runners place in the top 20, although only the top five runners from each team score.
“They knew what they had to do,” Anderson added. “They knew what they had to do, they knew what their places had to be and they held up.”
Unlike the girls, the Starfire boys lost the regular season title — a defeat that Anderson said hit his team hard.
“I don’t think I’ve seen a lower point in the five years that I’ve been here,” he said. “That stung quite a bit. To see them bounce back the way they did today was pretty impressive.”
Sophomore Bailey McIntire was the individual champion, crossing the finish line in 17:00.13. Sawyer Miller, last year’s ACAC champ, placed second, and David Steffen was fifth. Briar Goodwin (14th) and Wyatt Miller (17th) rounded out the Starfires’ team score of 39, which bested Bluffton by 10 points. Leo placed third with 51.
The highlight of Jay County’s day was junior Kellie Fortkamp, who placed fourth in the girls race to earn all-conference honors. The top seven finishers are named to the first team, and those placing eighth through 14th make the second team.
“That is a big accomplishment for her and especially us,” said JCHS coach Sarah Mescher, whose Patriot squad ran with a full team for just the third time all season. “Kellie has worked insanely hard this year. She puts extra effort in (and) all the work she’s put in this season is definitely showing now.”
Fortkamp, who has placed in the top 10 at every race this season, stayed in a group with the Starfires’ Von Gunten, Goodwin and Seffernick for the first mile. Then, as Marriott and Von Gunten pulled away from the pack, the Jay County junior wasn’t able to overcome Goodwin.
Fortkamp crossed the finish line in 21:17.45 with the rest of her teammates more than three minutes behind, a gap Mescher said she hopes the Patriots can minimize in time for the sectional meet Saturday.
“We need to get our 2s and our 3s up closer in placement and in times so we have a better chance at scoring,” said Mescher, whose team was without junior Megan Wellman.
Erika and Gabby Kunkler placed 26th and 30th respectively, with Ashley Alig (39th) and Kay Morgan (45th) completing the Patriots’ team score of 144.
For the Jay County boys, Tanner Craw placed 25th, Michael Denney and Travis Barton were back-to-back in 29th and 30th, and Alex LeMaster was 33rd. Dustin Cope finished 35th.
“Tanner Craw has been working hard,” Mescher said of the sophomore. “Despite the cold, I know our times were off today, but he stepped up.”
Middle School
East Jay’s Tayler Smeltzer placed second in the boys’ race, helping the Chiefs to their first ACAC championship. South Adams was second, and West Jay placed sixth.
South Adams’ girls occupied six of the top seven spots, running away with a fourth straight ACAC title.
The East Jay girls placed third, and West Jay did not have enough runners to qualify for a team score.
SAMS’s Eliza Harruff was the individual winner for the girls, crossing the finish line 12 seconds ahead of East Jay’s Kendra Muhlenkamp in 12:00.62.
Kallee Patch was third, Megan Miller placed fourth and Isabel Von Gunten finished fifth. Kate Buckingham was the No. 5 runner for SAMS, placing sixth.
East Jay’s Kristy Alig, Cheyenne Liette and Miranda Alig were 19th, 20th and 21st respectively, and Klarissa Hemmelgarn placed 31st.
For the West Jay girls, Sophie Fugiett placed 23rd, Lexus Harding was 27th, Lilly Clemmons finished 46th and Catherine Stafford was 54th.
In the boys’ race, following Smeltzer for the Chiefs were Skylar Myers (fourth), Mason Winner (ninth), Josh Ortiz (19th) and Xavier Myers (27th).
West Jay’s Matthew Paquette finished 17th, Daniel Fugiett was 20th, Ethan Andreshak placed 22rd and Ian McCombs was 37th. Dallas Workman finished 53rd as the Eagles’ No. 5 runner.
Luke Gerber placed fifth to lead the South Adams boys. Kamden Yoder (seventh), Trey Lehman (15th), Clancy McIntire (16th) and Aidan Von Gunten (24th) also scored for the Starfires.