Vagedes breaks two

FORT RECOVERY — Aaron Vagedes had little in the way of competition on the track Friday night. Instead, it was the Fort Recovery High School record book that provided his challenge.
The Tribe junior set a pair of new records Friday night, scoring more than half of the FRHS boys team’s points by himself as it finished third as hosts of a four-team meet. Russia won the boys competition with 124.5 points, followed by Franklin Monroe (51.5), the Indians (44) and Jackson Center (32).
Kylie Kahlig earned a pair of victories to help lead the girls team to a runner-up finish behind Russia (118.5) with 74 points. Franklin Monroe (54.5) was third, and Jackson Center (32) finished fourth.
Already the school-record holder in the 200-meter dash, 400 dash and long jump, Vagedes took down yet another mark on his home track. Dominating the 100 dash from the start, he won by seven tenths of a second over Russia’s Ethan Schafer in 11.3 seconds.
That time shattered the previous record of 11.7 set by Greg Bretz in 1998.
Vagedes also broke his own school record in the 200 dash, breaking the mark he set in Fort Recovery’s season-opening meet at Arcanum by two tenths of a second. His won the race in 23.3 to defeated Schafer by 1.5 seconds.
 “It’s going to be interesting to see where his ceiling is,” said FRHS coach Brent Niekamp. “He’s been running in pretty cold weather. Today … his times dropped again in the shorter races, and I think that’s just going to keep happening.”
Vagedes added two more victories, taking the 400 dash by more than three seconds in 52 seconds flat. He was first in the long jump by nearly four feet at 20 feet, 7½ inches.
Kahlig was the only other double winner for the Indians at the meet as she cruised to victory by a second in the girls 200 dash in 28.1 over Franklin Monroe’s Britney Bridenbaugh. The defending Midwest Athletic Conference champion in the shot put also dominated that event, winning by almost eight feet at 33 feet, 3½ inches.
She also joined Kelsey Fiely, Sierra Pugh and Marissa Brunswick to post a winning time of 1 minute, 56.2 seconds in the 4x200 relay.
“She’s winning meets right now in the shot, and she’s not throwing her top throws yet,” said Niekamp of Kahlig. “She’s about three feet off her tops throws.
“And in the running events we’re trying to figure out what is her best fit.
“She’s good at all three, but I’m not sure which one is going to be best.”
Holly Brunswick and Abby Huelskamp added two more field-event victories for the Indians.
Brunswick took the long jump with a leap of 14 feet, 3 inches, knocking off Russia’s Bethany York by just over 5 inches. Huelskamp’s first-place effort came with a toss of 75 feet, 9 inches in the discus.
In the 4x100 relay, Kelly Brown, Pugh, Fiely and Brunswick tied for first place with the team from Franklin Monroe in 56.9.
“The girls sprinters did well,” Niekamp said. “We’re still taking those relays and shuffling things around and looking at what is going to be our best (team).”
Holly Brunswick and York, who finished tied for eighth in the state in the high jump last season, battled in the event again Friday. Brunswick cleared the bar at 5 feet even for second place while York won at 5 feet, 2 inches.
Brunswick was also the runner-up to Russia’s Jackie Siefring in the 100 hurdles in 17 seconds flat.
“Holly had a bit of an off day. She won the long jump and was really not very happy with her distances,” said Niekamp. “She’s definitely … still adjusting (from basketball). She’s got some room to improve yet, and she’s putting up some pretty decent numbers already.”
Michael Cotterman followed Vagedes with a pair of runner-up results in the boys competition. He was second in the 110 hurdles in 19.9 and in the 300 hurdles in 48.6.[[In-content Ad]]