Indians earn second straight regional berth (10/23/06)

SPENCERVILLE, Ohio - This time, it's just what they expected.

Fort Recovery's run to the regional in girls cross country last season came as something of a surprise. This year the Indians knew how good they could be.

The Tribe showed that talent again Saturday, fighting of the Midwest Athletic Conference rival St. Henry Redskins on a slow course at the Spencerville district meet to earn a spot in the Troy regional for the second straight year.

Fort Recovery finished fourth in the nine-team field, just five points ahead of St. Henry (113-118).

The top four teams and top 15 individuals advanced to Saturday's race at Troy.

"We didn't have our best, but we made it out," said FRHS coach Jason Grieshop. "It was a struggle. Every (team) ran slow.

"But when you get to move on to the next week there's nothing bad you can really take from it. It's another opportunity for the girls to go out there and run and show people who were are. ...

"That's how far these kids have come and how hard they've worked this year."

Division III No. 1 Minster, the favorites to repeat as state champions, won easily with 19 points. Lincolnview finished a distant second with 73 points, and the host Bearcats were third with 96.

Junior Mindy Vogel led the Indians (80-44) as she has all season, finishing seventh out of 59 runners in 20-minutes, 22 seconds. Minster's Bernadette Burke won the regional crow in 19:44.

The next three Tribe runners finished in intervals of five, with sophomore Tina Roessner starting the run at 15th in 21:21. Junior Sam Bihn was next in 20th at 22:03, and freshman Amber Heitkamp held off Marion Local's Stacy Evers at the finish line for 25th in 22:36.

Sam Staugler rounded out the team score for Fort Recovery by placing 46th in 24:56.

Also running for the Tribe were Kelsey Brockman (54th - 27:14) and Melissa Tobe (55th - 27:27).

"We're hopeful Mindy can make it to state next week," said Grieshop, adding that Roessner, whose best time of the year is 20:32, would also have a chance if she can run near the 20-minute mark. "As a team we're just on the outside looking in. ... The kids are going to work hard this week and see what happens. If we can finish in the top half of a regional race that would be a heck of an accomplishment for this team this year."[[In-content Ad]]