Vogel gives Indians two in state (05/27/06)

PIQUA, Ohio — Fort Recovery is a small school with an even smaller track team.

The Indians don’t even have enough athletes to fill out all of the events. They lack the numbers to compete in most dual meets.

But the tiny team from the western edge of Mercer County has some big-time talent.

Mindy Vogel scored a third-place finish at the Division III regional at Piqua Friday, joining teammate Holly Stein in earning a state berth. Stein added a fourth-place finish in the discus to her runner-up effort in Wednesday’s shot put competition, qualifying her for the state meet in two events.

“That’s a neat feeling to be able to take two kids off of a small team to state. We’re thrilled,” said FRHS coach Jason Grieshop. “The smiles on their faces are worth all the work they put into it this year.”

Vogel and Stein will take part in the OHSAA State Track and Field Tournament Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3, at Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus. Stein will compete in the shot put at 1 p.m. Friday, followed by the discus at 3 p.m. Vogel’s 800-meter run finals will be Saturday as Division III running events start at 9:30 a.m.

Vogel earned her berth by running what Grieshop termed a perfect race.

The sophomore started in lane six and was in a pack of runners behind favorite Alaina Morman of Allen East as they began to cut in at the 300-meter mark. By the time they capped the first lap, Vogel was on the outside and battling for fifth.

She took advantage of her position, passing opponents on the outside and surging to fourth at the start of the back stretch. She quickly moved up to third place, and never gave Kate Dalinghaus of Minster a chance to take it from her.

Vogel finished in a career-best time of 2-minutes, 22.24 seconds, bettering the time of 2:22.56 she had at the Midwest Athletic Conference meet two weeks ago. She placed ahead of Dalinghaus and behind Morman and Coldwater’s Ashley Kanney as the four competitors from the Minster district swept the four state-qualifying spots.

When Grieshop saw her after the race, Vogel was sporting a wide grin.

“This is great,” she said. “This is exciting. I kind of felt like after all these practices that I had to do something to make it show.

“I felt comfortable. I felt more comfortable than I’ve actually felt ever in a race. I just felt good today.”

Grieshop said he was thrilled with the way Vogel stayed closed to the leaders and refused to get boxed in.

“Mindy definitely looked strong,” he said. “She ran a great race. It was kind of cool because she did exactly what we wanted her to do ... She had a great, great finish. She didn’t let anybody touch her at the end.”

Having already earned a state berth by finishing second to Crestview’s Shea Dietrich in the shot put Wednesday, Stein punched her ticket again Friday.

Entering as the No. 5 seed, the junior quickly served notice that a big day was on its way. On her first throw she broke her own school record for the second time in as many weeks, tossing a distance of 111 feet, 6 inches. But that mark only stood for a matter of minutes.

She would break her previous record of 109 feet four times in six attempts, including a throw of 116 feet on her second try to leave her in fourth place after the preliminaries.

Stein erased that record on her first throw of the finals, launching a distance of 119 feet, 2 inches. It now stands as the Fort Recovery school record, and was good for fourth behind Katie Gerhardt of Cedarville, Kait Ervin of Twin Valley South and Jessica Felver of Parkway.

“I just felt like I wanted to throw good,” said Stein, adding that watching Gerhardt repeatedly break the regional record was somewhat inspiring. “I don’t have a really good release, but I powered it out there.”

“Amazing really doesn’t cover what she did today,” Grieshop added. “She’s been struggling off and on in disc this year ... but today even without perfect technique she had a little more in her.”

Vogel and Stein give Fort Recovery athletes in the state meet for the third time in the last four seasons. Stein finished 14th in the shot put last year, and Tyler Niekamp was third in the high jump in 2002.[[In-content Ad]]