Tribe takes third (09/20/06)

MINSTER, Ohio - Third place normally isn't the goal at a four-team meet. But when that No. 3 finish comes behind two state-ranked teams, it's not so bad.

Fort Recovery's girls cross country team followed the Division III No. 1 Minster Wildcats and No. 10 Coldwater Cavaliers in Tuesday's meet at Four Seasons Recreational Park in Minster.

Two-time defending state champion Minster scored 16 points. Coldwater was second with 68, followed by the Indians (74) and St. Henry Redskins (90).

Mindy Vogel led the Indians (48-20) and was the only runner to break up the Minster top five.

The junior ran out to the front of the pack with the Wildcats' top two runners at the start of the race, and was in third at the mile mark. But she couldn't keep up with Brigitte Sherman, the No. 2 runner for Minster, as she did at the Eaton Invitational Saturday.

Vogel dropped back in the second half of the race - she was less than one second behind Sherman Saturday - and finished fifth with four Wildcats in front of her.

"She went out way too hard," said FRHS coach Jason Grieshop of Vogel, who crossed the line in 21-minutes, one second after running a 19:22.03 at Eaton.

"I think if she looks back on what she did today it's a good learning experience for her. The last half of the race you could just look at her and tell she was gassed."

A mob of orange and black - first with Minster, then Coldwater - surrounded Vogel up front before Tina Roessner broke the stronghold again.

Roessner was 13th at the mile mark, but picked up a couple of positions as she finished 11th in 20:45. Sam Bihn tracked down a couple of runners at the finish line to place 18th at 22:19.

The lone Indian runner to put up a season-best time was freshman Amber Heitkamp, and she did it in a big way. She stayed close to Bihn for much of the race, running just behind her junior teammate at the mile mark.

Heitkamp beat her previous low time by 26 seconds, finishing 23rd with a time of 22:37.

Grieshop said Heitkamp's improvement was a topic of conversation at practice Monday. He asked the team who thought she should be running faster, and everyone, including Heitkamp, raised their hand.

"Her improvement came in just being consistent," said Grieshop. "In the past she would run the first mile right where she needs to, but the next two ... she would drop off tremendously. Today she stayed focused at staying close to Sam Bihn. ... Keeping that eye contact with her made a huge difference."

Sam Staugler rounded out the Fort Recovery top five, finishing 44th in 25:50. It marked just the second time this season she has been below 26 minutes.

Also running for the Tribe were Kelsey Brockman, who finished just five seconds off her best time of the year in 45th with a time of 26:05. Melissa Tobe was 51st at 27:40.

Junior high

Fort Recovery's boys finished second, just one point behind the host Wildcats, 39-40. Team standings for the girls race were not available.

The Tribe boys had the team lead heading into the final 400 meters, but dropped several spots near the finish line as Minster took over. Ryan Heitkamp was the top Fort Recovery runner, finishing fifth in 12:32.

Alan Vogel was right behind Heitkamp in 12:44, and Caleb Heitkamp (12:46) and Mathias Koester (12:48) finished back-to-back as well in eighth and ninth. Derek Rammel capped the team score in 12th with a time of 13:23.

Alexis Sutter was the lone runner in the top 10 for the Fort Recovery girls team, placing 10th in 13:56. Abby Huelskamp finished just three seconds behind Sutter in 13th at 13:59.

Nicole Heitkamp was 17th with a time of 14:18, Claire Wendel finished 19th in 14:19 and Abby Sudhoff was 21st at 14:21.[[In-content Ad]]