Two Patriots score at regional

INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots’ strength on the track has been in the distance events.
It was the shorter racers in which they shined Tuesday.
The Jay County High School girls track team scored in two events, closing its season with a 20th-place finish at the IHSAA Girls Track and Field Regional meet at Ben Davis.
“I think overall it was a good season,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy. “I thought they made a lot of sacrifices this year to get ourselves in a position where we can be successful as a team.”
Case in point, senior Emma Laux.
The Butler University commit was a sectional champion in the 4x100-meter relay as a sophomore and junior, but gave up the race for her senior season, instead running the 400 dash to better help her team.
She earned the best place of any Patriot athlete Tuesday, finishing fifth with a career-best 59.43 seconds.
“This is a very high level of competition here,” said McEvoy. Lynna Irby of Pike broke her own regional record in the event with her time of 54.53 seconds. She also bested her own regional mark in the 100 dash, and claimed the top spot in the 200 dash as well in leading Pike to the regional championship with 95.5 points.
Host Ben Davis was runner up with 61 points, and Bishop Chatard was third with 54.
Jay County totaled five points behind Erika Kunkler and Laux, the latter of whom was two tenths of a second off the JCHS school record held by 2008 graduate Amanda Johnson.
“To have that performance that she did it was the best that it could be,” McEvoy said.
Kunkler earned the only sectional championship for the Patriots in the 800 run, and after one lap Tuesday it didn’t appear as if the junior had any chance to score for her team at regional.
Normally the type of runner who sprints to the front of the pack, she opted to let the leaders dictate the pace of the race since she was seeded 10th out of 16.
After the first lap, Kunkler was in 13th, but near the 500-meter mark she kicked in another gear.
“I was like ‘I’m not losing this,’” she said.
One by one, she started to pick off the runners ahead of her.
First was Christina Magers of Pendleton Heights to get into 12th, then Maritza Rodriguez of Ben Davis for 11th. She overtook Samantha Wissel of Randolph Southern to get into the top 10 before passing Monica Dudley of Pendleton Heights with 200 meters to go.
“The second lap I was feeling pretty good,” she said. “McEvoy was telling me it was all mental, I could get a faster time that I wanted.
“Coming in with 100 meters left I was counting the girls ahead of me hoping I would score.”
Down the front stretch, Sophie Vanderkooy of Brebeuf Jesuit was only a few meters away.
She suffered the same fate as Magers, Rodriguez, Wissel and Dudley.
“She ran really smart,” McEvoy said. Kunkler crossed the finish line eighth in 2 minutes, 26.38 seconds, less than a second ahead of Vanderkooy. “She did a really good job of being patient and binding her time the first lap. That says a lot about her. It is a tough way to run the race to have the confidence to know the second lap is going to be your money lap.”
The finish left Kunkler pleased to finish in the top eight.
“It is insane,” she said. “To go from our sectional … to one of the hardest regionals in Indiana, if not the hardest, it feels great.”
Kunkler also ran in the 4x800 and 4x400 relays, which were ninth and 11th respectively.
She ran the opening leg of the 4x800, passing off to teammates Kendra Muhlenkamp, Kellie Fortkamp and Megan Wellman to finish in 10:11.73. In the 4x400, she joined Taylor Homan, Britlyn Dues and Laux for a time of 4:14.76.
Dues, Wellman and Muhlenkamp also competed as individuals. Dues was 10th in the 100 hurdles (48.51), Wellman finished 13th in the 3,200 (12:26.7) and Muhlenkamp placed 15th in the 1,600 (5:58.89) as one of two freshmen to participate in the race.
“Megan and Kendra did a really good job of being part of a relay and also being part of an individual event,” McEvoy said. “The speed of hit here doesn’t feel like a distance race at times. It’s almost a dead sprint the entire time.
“It is a good experience for them to have, especially for someone as young as Kendra. It gives her individual meet experience to see what it’s about and to see what it takes to get to the next level.”
Also competing for the Patriots was Sydney Robbins in the 100 hurdles. She was 15th in 18.16 seconds.