Potential aplenty

A pair of Patriot boys knew after their sectional performances that they had a chance to contend for a state berth.

For most of the race, Caleb Garringer had himself in position. He just couldn’t hold on down the stretch.

Garringer, a Jay County High School sophomore, came up 10 places and 13 seconds short in the regional meet hosted by New Haven at Huntington University on Saturday, finishing in 36th place out of 243 runners.

Freshman Dash Thacker was just two places and three seconds behind him.

“It was a good race overall for sure,” said Garringer. “I went against a lot of good people and I did pretty good. I was happy with my placement overall.”

The top five teams and top 15 individuals not on qualifying teams advance to the state finals. Garringer was 19th among non-qualifying runners and Thacker was 20th.

The JCHS girls scored 370 points to place 13th in the out of 25, placing one spot ahead of the Norwell squad (399) that beat them for the sectional championship a week earlier. Second-ranked Concordia took the title with 39 points, with Homestead (70), Columbia City (123), Warsaw (190) and Carroll (200) claiming the other state-qualifying positions.

Those teams advance to the IHSAA Cross Country State Finals at noon Saturday at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute.

“What we looked at to try to keep them competitive and in a good mindset for the race was, ‘Hey, let’s beat some teams that we haven’t beat,” said JCHS coach Bruce Wood. His team was able to accomplish that, not only finishing ahead of Norwell but another sectional champion — Yorktown – as well. “That’s what we did before the race to stay in it mentally and during the race. I think that kept everybody running real competitively. …

“It was a good performance by them, great season for girls.”

Garringer took off at the gun of the boys race, treating the first 100 meters as a sprint. That put him in a solid position in the massive field, and by the mile mark he was sitting 26th.

With a mid-20s finish expected to be needed to advance — Hunter Smith was the final qualifier from the 2023 race in 23rd place — he had put himself in the mix.

Most of his race was smooth, though he stepped on a pinecone on a downhill near the halfway point and then stumbled on the next climb. Other than that, he said he felt good throughout.

By the home stretch, Garringer had slipped back into the mid 30s and out of state contention but was still part of the top 18% of the field that broke the 17-minute mark. His time of 16:48.1 was just nine seconds slower than the previous week on a much more difficult course than the relatively flat layout for the sectional at Taylor University.

His time was more than a minute faster than the 17:52.3 he put up while finishing 126th as a freshman.

“My hopes are definitely to make it to state next year,” said Garringer, who was seventh among underclassmen. (Eighteen of the 35 runners who finished ahead of him were seniors.) “I really hope to continually get better every race.

“I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing and get better, run faster.”

Thacker stayed close to Garringer, just as he had in the sectional meet where they finished sixth and seventh. He ended up 38th in 16:51 in his first regional experience and was 20th among runners on non-qualifying teams.

He was the fifth-fastest freshman in the field.

“They didn’t qualify, but at the same time, hopefully that leaves them hungry for what it takes to get there next year,” said Wood. “And being so close and knowing it’s within reach, I think it’s good for them and it’s good for our program going forward to know that we have guys running at the level.”

Ava May had the top finish for the Patriot girls for the second week in a row, running a similar race to the sectional as she tailed a group of her teammates in the first part of the race before taking the lead role late in the race. She was just three seconds off of the career-best time she set in that sectional race, placing 62nd in the regional at 20:45.5.

As a whole, Jay County’s girls got stuck near the back of the field in the grueling opening stretch and had to fight back through the rest of the race. They were successful in doing so as they finished one spot ahead of their 14th-place projection.

Fellow freshmen Abby Fifer and Jessie Homan joined May in the top 100, the former finishing 77th in 21:07.5 and the latter 88th at 21:21.6. The final two Patriots came across the line within four tenths of a second of each other, with freshman Brooklyn Byrum 117th in 21:49.7 and junior Alexis Sibray 118th in 21:50.1.

“It’s hard telling what those girls are all capable of because they kept getting faster,” said Wood. “Ramping up training just a little bit more going forward … they can still make a lot of improvements.

“Hopefully we’ll have a few of them, or maybe all of them, get to that level where they’re looking at individually possibly state qualifying. If we do that, that teams going to be really, really, really good.”

Junior Joseph Boggs gave the JCHS boys a third runner in the top 100. He posted a time of 17:50.1 for 92nd place, improving on his 116th-place finish from 2023.

Also running for the Patriot girls Saturday but not factoring into the team score were junior Paityn Wendel (177th – 22:54.9) and Lizzy Brunswick (187th – 23:15.3).