Fort boys place second (05/03/03)

Fort Recovery track (and football) coach Mark Fenik is used to being in the Indians’ stadium on Friday nights. His runners didn’t seem to mind it much either.

With the Fort Recovery Invitational moved from Saturday to Friday night for the first time this year, the Indian boys placed second with 128 points. Ansonia won the meet with 158 points, and Riverside was third with 96.5.

The girls team tied Riverside for fifth with 58 points. Russia was first with 162 points, and Fairlawn placed second with 104.

“We’re really proud of all the kids,” said Fenik, pointing especially to wins by senior Tyler Niekamp in the high jump and the 3200-meter relay team. “They did well. Another thing we were proud of is we had several individuals with personal bests.”

But the leader for the boys team as usual was Niekamp.

The school record holder in the high jump was not challenged in the event Friday. He won by four inches over Jackson Center’s Donald Cooper with a leap of six feet, two inches.

Niekamp added another top-three finished in the long jump. He placed third behind Ansonia’s Tyler Stump and Cooper with a jump of 18 feet, three inches.

The other win for Fort Recovery came from Derrick Faller, Jason Groff, Derrick Huelskamp and Ben Steinbrunner in the 3200-meter relay with a time of 9:34.

Groff and Huelskamp picked up some big points for the Indians in long distance individual events as well.

Groff headed to the front early in the 3200-meter run, only to slip behind eventual winner Gabe Savage of Tri-County North before falling to third place at one point. However, by the end of the race he surged past Ansonia’s Josh Cook again to place second in 11:35.20.

Huelskamp picked up more points for the Tribe with a third-place showing in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:21.9. Steinbrunner was right behind him, placing fourth in 2:27.49.

Stan Roessner and Joe Walter finished back-to-back in second and third place in the pole vault. Roessner cleared the bar at 10 feet, and Joe Walter reached a height of 9 feet, six inches.

Tom Roessner had the other top-three finish for Fort Recovery as he took third in the 300-meter hurdles in 45.99.

Fort Recovery’s girls team had three top-three finishes, all of which came from Kristi Westgerdes.

The sophomore had her top showing in the 100-meter dash, placing second behind Russia’s Danielle Anthony by two-tenths in a time of 13.43. She was third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 28.58, and placed third in the long jump at a distance of 14 feet, 2.25 inches.

The Indians next action will be at the Mercer County meet Tuesday at Coldwater.[[In-content Ad]]