Bilbrey breaks

Forty-one years.

That’s how long Carla Miller’s discus school record stood.

Gabi Bilbrey did something about that Thursday night without even knowing it.

After years of working on her form, Bibrey threw in Jay County High School’s track meet, ran in the “throwers’ relay” and went home like it was any other day.

It wasn’t until later in the evening that she got a text message informing her that she had surpassed Miller.

“I didn’t know that I broke the record … because I thought the record was 133 feet and I had only thrown 132 feet, but it’s an incredible experience,” Bibrey said. “It’s always been my dream just to get a little bit of recognition for a sport that not a lot of people know about, so hopefully it opens a couple people’s eyes to throwing in track and field.”

Bilbrey’s record highlighted a double victory for the Patriot track teams as the girls defeated the visiting Bellmont Braves 82-40 while the boys won 87-36. Both the boys and girls teams took first place in 12 out of 15 events.

After hitting the 120-foot mark at the Muncie Central Relays last year and surpassing that number to win the sectional championship at Delta, Bilbrey turned her focus to the school record. She had hoped to take it down at the state finals, but fell short.

It didn’t take her long to surpass it during her senior season, launching the discus 132 feet, 8 inches, in just the second meet of the year.

She broke the record of 130 feet, 7 inches, that Miller set in 1982.

“It’s so beautiful to see it all fall in place with one throw,” said Bilbrey, who won the event by more than 30 feet over Bellmont’s Sierra Schmidt.

Her record-breaking distance Thursday would have been good for sixth place at the state finals last season. And only state champion Hadley Lucas of Bloomington North threw further than 136 feet, 10 inches. (Bilbrey was 15th at 116 feet, 6 inches.)

The top nine competitors at the state finals earn medals.

Bilbrey also took the top spot in the shot put Thursday at 33 feet, 3 1/4 inches.

Freshman Joseph Boggs had a big day in his home debut for the Patriot boys as he and Bellmont’s Ian Webb jumped ahead of the field early in the 1,600-meter run. Boggs slipped behind and was trailing by about 10 meters but rallied on the back stretch and came back to win in five minutes, two seconds.

“In the back of my mind, people had been telling me that there was this kid (Webb) that runs a pretty good mile,” Boggs said. “He did kick (in the final lap) but it wasn’t as much as I thought. So as I was rounding the corner I thought, ‘OK, there’s a shot,’ so I just tried to push everything I got.”

Boggs was also a part of two first-place relays, running the anchor leg for the 4x800, which broke the nine-minute mark to win in 8:59, and the third leg in the 4x400, which won in 3:52.

“The impact that he has had has made us all better,” said JCHS coach Joe Imel, noting a healthy rivalry between Boggs and junior Brayden Collins. “He has really pushed many of them to continue to push themselves to get better in the events that they are in. … That just makes us a better team with that competition that we have together as a group.”

The battle between teammates played out as they both competed in the 800 run. Collins, who had been slower than Boggs in both relay splits, got out to an early lead while it seemed as if Boggs was going to be fighting with Bellmont’s Harry Gunsett for second place. Once again, near the back stretch of the final lap, Boggs closed the gap only to come up a little bit short, finishing second with a time of 2:19 while Collins was first in 2:18.

“Having beaten his time in the 4x8, I was a little cocky so I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve got this,’” Boggs said. “It was a lot of fun. We were talking to each other, trying to make bets on who would win.”

The girls swept Bellmont in the field events, with Molly Muhlenkamp and Morgan DeHoff joining Bilbrey for victories as both led one-two-three finishes. Muhlenkamp was first in the high jump at 4 feet, 10 inches, with teammates Mya Kunkler and Jenna Dues tied for second. DeHoff took the long jump at 13 feet, 9 inches, with exchange students Stacy Fomina and Johanna Anders second and third.

DeHoff, a sophomore, also went one-two with junior Cash Hollowell in the 100 hurdles in 16.9, and won the 300 hurdles at 54.47. She teamed with Natalie Wehrly, Dues and Anders for a time of 53.7 to win the 4x100 relay.

“Our team has been doing really good as a whole,” DeHoff said. “We’ve had a lot of wins and personal bests from last season’s personal bests so we’re doing good.”

Wehrly finished first in the 100 dash (13.54) and 200 dash (27.08), and teamed with Maria Hemmelgarn, Hollowell and Anders to take the 4x400 relay in 4:37.59. Adding victories for the girls team were Alexis Sibray in the 800 run (2:42.05) and Paityn Wendel in the 3,200 run (14:12).

For the boys, Isaac Kunkler found some repeated success as he won the high jump (5 feet, 10 inches), 110 hurdles (15.07) and 300 hurdles (42.78) for the second consecutive meet. He was also the anchor of the 4x100 relay team that finished first with a time of 47.57.

In the field events, two Patriots recorded career bests. The first was by senior Joseph Kunk in the discus with a distance of 137 feet, 11 inches.

“That is a 20-foot PR,” Imel said. “Unbelievable to get a 20-foot PR but it is. I am extremely happy with that.”

Kunk also finished first in the shot put with a throw of 40 feet, 2 inches.

Adam Alig also posted a career-best in the high jump, finishing second to Kunkler with a leap of 5 feet, 8 inches.

“He’s been stuck at 5-6 forever and he had come close to hitting 5-10 today,” Imel said. “We are on the up-and-up and let’s just look forward into carrying this momentum into next week.”

Other wins for the boys came from Trey Nichols in the 400 dash (58.3) and Justin DeHoff in the long jump (16 feet, 2 inches).