JCHS track teams open with wins over Tribe

The Patriots’ depth was key for them to take down a foe from across the border.

While the Indians’ natural strengths in the individual girls races and boys field events shined, the Patriots piled on the points with 20 first-place finishes between the boys and girls and secured two of the three scoring spots or more in 17 of 28 non-relay events.

The result was a pair of Patriot victories.

The Jay County High School track teams opened the season on Thursday with wins over the Fort Recovery Indians.

The Patriot boys won all but one race and added two field events to the list of victories to run away with a 92-40 triumph. The Jay County girls excelled in the relays and field events to beat FRHS 77-55.

Caden Gambill and Adam Alig both won multiple events for the JCHS boys. Gambill focused on  the sprints, claiming 100-meter and 200 dash (24.60 seconds), while Alig took both hurdles events — 15.77 seconds in the 110 hurdles and 46.49 in the 300 hurdles — as well as the high jump (5 feet, 6 ¼ inches). Of those five events, Jay County swept the 110 hurdles and added a second-place finish in the 100 dash, 300 hurdles and high jump.

Photo Gallery

Fort Recovery track at Jay County (4/10/2025)

Other victories for the Patriot boys came from:

•Blake Collins in the 400 dash (58.03)

•Joseph Boggs in the 800 run (2 minutes, 14.46 seconds)

•Dash Thacker in the 1,600 run (4:58.68)

•Caleb Garringer in the 3,200 run (10:58.93)

•Peyton Yowell in the pole vault (9 feet)

•The 4x100-meter relay team (45.75)

•The 4x400 relay team (3:56.00)

Jay County swept the 400 and 1,600 runs, while adding a second or third place finish to stack points in the 800 run and pole vault. (The top three placements earned points for its team in every event other than the relays, in which only the winning team received points.)

Carson Fullenkamp led the Tribe boys with a pair of victories in the shot put (45 feet) and discus (119 feet, 5 ½ inches). Isaac Roessner added the only other individual victory in the long jump (19 feet, 6 inches) while the Fort Recovery 4x800 relay team took the top spot in 10:01.00. (They claimed another scoring spot in all three of the field events they won as well.)

The Indian girls had a lot more success in the individual races, led by Anna Roessner and Madison Heitkamp. Roessner claimed the three sprints with times of 12.51 seconds, 25.93 and 58.24 in the 100, 200 and 400 dashes, respectively. Heitkamp’s wins came in the hurdles, with winning times of 17.46 in the 100 and 52.80 in the 300.

Fort Recovery’s other victories came from:

•Kennedy Muhlenkamp in the 800 run (2:35.39)

•Joelle Kaup in the 3,200 run (13:02.50)

•Karlie Niekamp in the discus (116 feet, 4 ¾ inches)

FRHS got extra points in the 400 dash, 3,200 run and the discus while placing second and third in the shot put.

Brooklynn Byrum secured the only individual victory for Jay County from a race by running a 6:00.62 in the 1,600. (JCHS swept the event.)

While the Patriots didn’t manage to win many of the other racing events, they took second and third place in the 100 dash, 200 dash, 800 run, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles.

The Jay County girls dominated in the relays and field events, with victories coming from:

•4x100 relay team (53.37 second)

•4x400 relay team (5:33.00)

•4x800 relay team (12:37.00)

•Mya Kunkler in the high jump (4 feet, 8 ¼ inches)

•Maria Hemmelgarn in the pole vault (8 feet)

•Peyton Carpenter in the long jump (15 feet)

•Jordyn Hutzler in the shot put (32 feet, 1 inch)

Extra points from Jay County’s depth came in the pole vault, high jump and long jump.

Jay County will be back in action today at the Wapahani relays, while the Indians will break until Tuesday. That meet will be at home against a pair of Midwest Athletic Conference foes in Versailles and St. John’s.