Tribe track remains young

The Indians are young. Still.

A year ago the Fort Recovery had just a handful of seniors on its boys track team, and none on its girls squad. There is not much more experience this year as the girls team has two seniors and the boys boast one.

The most experienced of the bunch by far is Tina Roessner, who is a two-time regional qualifier as well as standout in cross country.

Roessner was the district runner-up in the 3,200-meter run a year ago. She finished sixth in the regional in 2007, just two spots away from a state berth, and was 10th in the event last season.

"Tina is great because this is all routine for her," said FRHS coach Chris Sommers, who also coached the team in 2007. "She comes out here and takes care of business. ... She's definitely a leader for us."

The girls team had individuals qualify for the regional meet last season in four other events. Three of those came from Holly Brunswick.

The sophomore, who kicked off this season last week with two victories at the Lady Tiger Classique hosted by Versailles, won the district high jump title as a freshman. She also placed second in the 100 hurdles and fourth in the long jump.

Brunswick went on to turn in Fort Recovery's best regional finish, narrowly missing a state berth in the high jump. She cleared the same height as the fourth-place regional qualifier, but had more misses and therefore finished in sixth place.

She and Roessner will both have a chance to bring the Indians back to the state meet this year after missing out last season. FRHS had a state qualifier in four of the previous five years, with Tyler Niekamp, Holly Stein and Matt Vagedes all earning state medals.

"Holly (Brunswick) is just athletic," said Sommers. "She's just an all-around athlete and she excels in pretty much anything that she does."

Sommers said he will also look for big scoring from the members of his 4x800 relay team, which includes Roessner, Alexis Sutter, Abby Huelskamp and Abby Sudhoff. They qualified for the regional last season with a third-place finish in the district meet.

Beyond those returning regional qualifiers - the boys had none in 2008 - the next point leaders for the Tribe track teams could be a pair of freshmen. Aaron Vagedes and Kylie Kahlig both could step right to the forefront after outstanding eighth-grade seasons.

Vagedes won the Midwest Athletic Conference junior high title in the high jump by six inches last season. He was also the runner-up in the 400 dash.

He could also help the Tribe in the long jump if he can return from a foot injury suffered during the football season.

"We're still wondering how Aaron's going to come back because this will be the first sport he's done since the football injury," said Sommers. "That's a tough position to put a freshman in, to expect him to score the bulk of our points."

Kahlig walked away without a MAC crown last season, but finished in the top five in three events. She finished second in both the shot put and 400 dash, and was also fourth in the 200 dash.

She is an uncommon dual threat as a top-notch competitor in both the sprints and the throwing events.

"Kylie Kahlig will be a great addition to the girls team," said Sommers. "She's a great prospect. She really excelled last year as an eighth grader. She shows a lot of promise in the 100, the 200, especially the 400 and she's already a great shot putter."

The top runner back for the Tribe boys his sophomore Ryan Heitkamp, having finished 10th in the 3,200 run at the 2008 district meet. Ethan Schoenherr was 11th in the pole vault, and Perry Hull took 16th in the 100 dash.

Jeremy May, the team's lone senior, was 17th in the 1,600 run.

"The goal first and foremost, especially when you're working with younger athletes, has got to be to get better at their individual events. That's our primary goal," said Sommers. "The kids who did make it to regional last year, that will be a goal for them again; to try to ... build off the success they had last year."[[In-content Ad]]