Fleet Fugiett

Some athletes start in their backyard. Some start in Little League.
And then there’s the girl who started in her fifth grade gym class, Sophia Fugiett.
“In fifth grade we had to run the half mile and I was the first one done,” Fugiett said. “I thought to myself, maybe I can run.”
She thought correctly.
Fugiett, an eighth grader at West Jay Middle School, now holds the record for the fastest time ran at a home meet for girls cross country.
In her first competitive race, Fugiett finished in third place as a sixth grader going up against runners two years older.
Michelle Hart, Fugiett’s coach, believes she is not only the best runner at West Jay, but the best athlete as well.
“She looks so tiny, like a little pipsqueak, but she is not. She makes her presence known,” Hart said.
Kyle Love, the team’s other coach, believes small but mighty describes her perfectly.
“She has an inner drive … and it shows in other areas of her life as well,” Hart said. “She has a big fan following.”
During their only home meet of the year, Fugiett’s friends, without her knowing, spent time in Hart’s room making T-shirts and showed up to the meet to cheer on their favorite runner.
“It was a soccer like atmosphere,” Love said.
She won the 3K race and set the school record in the process with a time of 11 minutes, 56 seconds.
“I like running. Running just gets everything out of my mind,” Fugiett said.
Her favorite meet was the Eagle Invite, an event held at Muncie Sportsplex, which she attended at the last minute to compete with more than 100 runners. The team did not initially have the invite on the scheduled but added it after she already planned a hunting trip on what was supposed to be a day off.
She decided to cancel the trip in favor of running.
“I wasn’t going to go," said Fugiett. "Then I went. Then I won."
The joy from running can be seen on her face during her meets. Both her coaches made sure to mention the smirk she wears while she runs, and Fugiett admitted that she does run with a smile. Throughout her final season, she was not beaten by another runner from Jay County and finished fourth in the Allen County Athletic Conference.
With the cross country season over, Fugiett does not get much of a break as she jumps right into basketball. Her winter sport helps keep her in shape for track season in the spring but has another benefit as well.
“A lot of my friends don’t run," she said. "Basketball helps me stay in shape and I get to be with my friends."
When she is not running Fugiett enjoys taking photographs, which she said could be something she pursues later on down the road.
Looking to her freshman year, Fugiett has made up her mind to run cross country but is unsure whether she will continue with track. Given her success this fall, it’s a good bet the JCHS coaches will be making a concerted effort to persuade the small but mighty runner from Redkey to don the Patriots’ red, white and blue as often as possible.