Three Patriots reach regional

MUNCIE — Gabby Kunkler was not pleased with her first mile.
She could have chosen to keep at a pace with which she was comfortable, or push herself in the final 2 miles.
She picked the latter strategy, and now she’ll run at least one more week.
Kunkler, a Jay County High School junior, was the lone Patriot girl to advance to regional after placing 31st in the IHSAA cross country sectional Saturday at Muncie SportsPlex.
Jay County sophomore Skyler Myers and junior Alex LeMaster also advanced to regional from the boys race.
The Patriot boys totaled 208 points for eighth place, with the Wapahani Raiders scoring 53 points to claim the team title. Host Delta was second with 70 points, edging Monroe Central by three. Muncie Central (108) finished fourth and Cowan (116) placed fifth.
The top five teams and top 10 individuals not on qualifying teams advance to regional, which is Oct. 14 back at Muncie SportsPlex.
Jay County’s girls had five runners compete but did not qualify for a team score as only four crossed the finish line.
Randolph Southern freshman Leah Keesling won the individual championship, helping the Rebels earn the team title with 36 points. Other advancing teams were Delta (49), Union City (99), Monroe Central (100) and Muncie Central (118).
“I started out pretty crappy,” said Kunkler, who finished in 23 minutes, 24.4 seconds. Keesling’s winning time was 19:31.3.
“My first mile wasn’t good,” she said. “I didn’t know if I wanted to keep going where I was going and be like, ‘OK you’re just going to have a bad race.’”
At that point, Erika Kunkler, Gabby’s senior cousin, was 21st overall. Gabby Kunkler picked up her speed and caught up to her relative. They paced one another for the remainder of the race. “Basically you have to make that choice right then and there,” Gabby Kunkler said of beginning the second mile. “I decided to try to stay with the pack I was with or get ahead of them. Then I was with Erika the rest of the time.
“I decided to pick it up, basically.”
Jay County coach Kurt Hess said he was impressed with the performance out of the junior.
“I think she just turned it on at the right time, really wanted it a lot today,” he said.
After the second mile, the Kunklers were running 31st and 32nd respectively with the elder cousin ahead. Erika Kunkler, running in her final race, placed 36th in 23:44.9.
In the boys race, the Patriots got caught in the middle of the pack during the first 100 meters. With eventual champion Nathan Herbst (16:40.7) of Wapahani continuing to pull away from the pack, Myers was in 19th with LeMaster one spot behind him after the first mile.
They each slipped one spot a mile later, and Myers crossed the finish line in 18:10.2 for 25th. LeMaster placed 27th in 18:23.4.
“That has been their goal all year is to get out of sectional, get to regional and possibly semi-state,” Hess said of LeMaster and Myers. “I think they really like this course. It is one of their favorite courses.
“It was a lot nicer weather today that they like to run in. The stars kind of aligned for some of them today.”
Rounding out the team total for the Jay County boys were Mason Winner (46th – 19:15), Tayler Smeltzer (56th – 19:44) and Ben Strausburg (60th – 19:57.3).
Also running were Candler Hedges (67th – 21:49.6) and Nathanael Day (68th – 21:54.9). For the girls were Vivienne Kunkler (55th – 27:19) and Catherine Stafford (57th – 30:27.4). Kiara Walter did not finish.