July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Vogel 2nd for Tribe (08/28/06)
JCHS/FRHS cross country
Vogel 2nd for Tribe (08/28/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
CELINA, Ohio - Early in the season, cross country coaches find themselves extolling the benefits of off-season work. The top Fort Recovery and Jay County runners saw the benefits Saturday.
Leading the improvement effort was the Indians' Mindy Vogel, who jump from a 17th-place finish last season all the way to second place. She and teammates Tina Roessner and Sam Bihn along with Jay County's Amanda Johnson, Kylie Wellman and Brady Mills all saw huge improvements over last season at the Celina Rotary Invitational Saturday.
Vogel and Roessner led Fort Recovery to a fourth-place finish in a 15-team Divison II/III field at the Wright State University Lake Campus. The Indians scored 159 points, finishing behind Fort Loramie (86), Coldwater (95) and Anna (123).
Jay County put three runners in the top 10 in the seven-team Division I girls race to place second with 68 points. The Patriots were just ahead of Findlay (69) while Clay (45) finished first.
The Jay County boys were fifth out of six Division I teams with 131 points. They finished ahead of Northland (165) while the host Bulldogs (45) eked out the victory over Findlay (46).
"You can run miles, and then you can run hard," said FRHS coach Jason Grieshop. "I think when they went out running this summer it wasn't about taking a lazy jog, it was 'I'm going to kick somebody's butt.' They have that kind of mentality. They want to go to state this year. They want to be all-Midwest Athletic Conference. They want to be at that level, and I think that's the kind of attitude they took in their summer running program. So far its obviously paid off for them."
Vogel finished 17th at the Indians' opening race last year. This season, the 17th-place runner couldn't have seen her with binoculars.
The junior, who went to the state finals in track in the 800-meter run, pushed to second place early in the race and never left. She still had some competition for the runner-up spot at the 2K-mark, but pulled away in the second half of the race.
She finished in 20-minutes, 26 seconds, more than three minutes faster than a year ago and 14 seconds faster than her regional time last season. The only runner in front of her was Anna's Sara Schulze (20:09), who finished fourth at the state cross country meet last season.
Roessner posted the top finish for the Tribe last year in 14th place. In 2006 she was in a fight for fourth much of the way before placing fifth in 21:22, more than a minute faster than last season.
Bihn also showed massive improvement in her 25th-place finish. She crossed the line in 23:06, more than 1:30 faster than a year ago.
"Mindy has a lot of fight in that little body of hers," said Grieshop. "I think she saw that tough cookie up there in the lead and said, 'You know what, let's see how long I can stay with her.' I think she's just got a little edge to her now.
"Last year (Mindy and Tina) came in here and they were in the top 20 runners. Today they were second and fifth. ... It's fabulous how much difference a year has made for those two athletes. They've really stepped it up.
"Sam Bihn pulled in a real nice race. That's right where Mindy and Tina were last year at this time. It's just a joy to have three of them where we had two last year."
Johnson, Wellman and Jessica Mosier all pushed out to strong starts and were in the top 10 throughout the 5K race, which is 1,000 meters longer than the norm in Indiana.
By the mid-point of the race Johnson solidified her fifth-place standing, and remained there as she finished in 21:55. Wellman slipped as far as eighth before rallying to place sixth in 22:03, and Mosier posted a strong ninth-place effort in 22:42.
Johnson was more than a minute faster than her 2005 Celina race, and Wellman sliced nearly 1:45 from her time a year ago. Mosier improved by six seconds.
"You can tell who ran this summer," said Jay County coach Les Bantz. "It's a long process.
"We're moving in the right direction. When we get back to Indiana running the 4K they'll like that a lot better."
Mills showed huge improvement not only from last season at Celina, but from just four days earlier at the Bellmont Invitational. Mills was nearly two minutes faster than at Bellmont as he placed 10th in 19:19.
Following the top three for the Patriot girls to complete the second-place team finish were Cassie Laux (23rd - 25:05) and Brittany Burris (26th - 25:15). Joining the top three for the Tribe girls were freshmen Amber Heitkamp (55th - 24:31) and Kelsey Brockman (91st - 27:17).
"Starting off a season you can't be a whole lot happier than we are today," said Grieshop. "Every year we've been doing this our kids have been faster and faster the first meet of the year. I feel like we're going in the right direction."
Tevan Nichols followed Mills for the Jay County boys. The freshman was 26h with a time of 21:20.
Completing the team score for Jay County were Josh Selvey (40th - 22:20), Ty Fullenkamp (42nd - 22:27) and Brandon Brinton (47th - 22:52).
"The boys ran much better," said Bantz. "We're beginning to understand it's a lot of hard work."
Finishing outside the top five for their respective teams were: Sam Staugler (100th - 27:52) for the Fort Recovery girls, Kari Hemmelgarn (28th - 25:45), Allison Fullenkamp (36th - 26:40), Jenna Valentine (27:07) and Kristen Selvey (27:51) for the Jay County girls and Devin Willoughby (62nd - 27:06), Dylan Cook (63rd - 27:19) and Adam Mescher (65th - 28:49) for the Jay County boys.
Junior high
Fort Recovery's boys team posted a third-place finish in a 14-team field while the girls were fifth out of 10.
Caleb Heitkamp had the top finish for either team, placing sixth in 12-minutes, 56 seconds.
Nicole Heitkamp paced the girls team in 14th, finishing in 15:05.
Ryan Heitkamp was 18th in 13:33, and Alan Vogel placed 26th in 13:52. Rounding out the team score were Mathias Koester (28th - 13:59) and Derek Rammel (38th - 14:21).
Alexis Sutter was second for the Fort Recovery girls and 28th overall in 15:04. She was followed by Claire Wendel (33rd - 15:51), Abby Huelskamp (34th - 15:53) and Casey Backs (43rd - 16:22).[[In-content Ad]]
Leading the improvement effort was the Indians' Mindy Vogel, who jump from a 17th-place finish last season all the way to second place. She and teammates Tina Roessner and Sam Bihn along with Jay County's Amanda Johnson, Kylie Wellman and Brady Mills all saw huge improvements over last season at the Celina Rotary Invitational Saturday.
Vogel and Roessner led Fort Recovery to a fourth-place finish in a 15-team Divison II/III field at the Wright State University Lake Campus. The Indians scored 159 points, finishing behind Fort Loramie (86), Coldwater (95) and Anna (123).
Jay County put three runners in the top 10 in the seven-team Division I girls race to place second with 68 points. The Patriots were just ahead of Findlay (69) while Clay (45) finished first.
The Jay County boys were fifth out of six Division I teams with 131 points. They finished ahead of Northland (165) while the host Bulldogs (45) eked out the victory over Findlay (46).
"You can run miles, and then you can run hard," said FRHS coach Jason Grieshop. "I think when they went out running this summer it wasn't about taking a lazy jog, it was 'I'm going to kick somebody's butt.' They have that kind of mentality. They want to go to state this year. They want to be all-Midwest Athletic Conference. They want to be at that level, and I think that's the kind of attitude they took in their summer running program. So far its obviously paid off for them."
Vogel finished 17th at the Indians' opening race last year. This season, the 17th-place runner couldn't have seen her with binoculars.
The junior, who went to the state finals in track in the 800-meter run, pushed to second place early in the race and never left. She still had some competition for the runner-up spot at the 2K-mark, but pulled away in the second half of the race.
She finished in 20-minutes, 26 seconds, more than three minutes faster than a year ago and 14 seconds faster than her regional time last season. The only runner in front of her was Anna's Sara Schulze (20:09), who finished fourth at the state cross country meet last season.
Roessner posted the top finish for the Tribe last year in 14th place. In 2006 she was in a fight for fourth much of the way before placing fifth in 21:22, more than a minute faster than last season.
Bihn also showed massive improvement in her 25th-place finish. She crossed the line in 23:06, more than 1:30 faster than a year ago.
"Mindy has a lot of fight in that little body of hers," said Grieshop. "I think she saw that tough cookie up there in the lead and said, 'You know what, let's see how long I can stay with her.' I think she's just got a little edge to her now.
"Last year (Mindy and Tina) came in here and they were in the top 20 runners. Today they were second and fifth. ... It's fabulous how much difference a year has made for those two athletes. They've really stepped it up.
"Sam Bihn pulled in a real nice race. That's right where Mindy and Tina were last year at this time. It's just a joy to have three of them where we had two last year."
Johnson, Wellman and Jessica Mosier all pushed out to strong starts and were in the top 10 throughout the 5K race, which is 1,000 meters longer than the norm in Indiana.
By the mid-point of the race Johnson solidified her fifth-place standing, and remained there as she finished in 21:55. Wellman slipped as far as eighth before rallying to place sixth in 22:03, and Mosier posted a strong ninth-place effort in 22:42.
Johnson was more than a minute faster than her 2005 Celina race, and Wellman sliced nearly 1:45 from her time a year ago. Mosier improved by six seconds.
"You can tell who ran this summer," said Jay County coach Les Bantz. "It's a long process.
"We're moving in the right direction. When we get back to Indiana running the 4K they'll like that a lot better."
Mills showed huge improvement not only from last season at Celina, but from just four days earlier at the Bellmont Invitational. Mills was nearly two minutes faster than at Bellmont as he placed 10th in 19:19.
Following the top three for the Patriot girls to complete the second-place team finish were Cassie Laux (23rd - 25:05) and Brittany Burris (26th - 25:15). Joining the top three for the Tribe girls were freshmen Amber Heitkamp (55th - 24:31) and Kelsey Brockman (91st - 27:17).
"Starting off a season you can't be a whole lot happier than we are today," said Grieshop. "Every year we've been doing this our kids have been faster and faster the first meet of the year. I feel like we're going in the right direction."
Tevan Nichols followed Mills for the Jay County boys. The freshman was 26h with a time of 21:20.
Completing the team score for Jay County were Josh Selvey (40th - 22:20), Ty Fullenkamp (42nd - 22:27) and Brandon Brinton (47th - 22:52).
"The boys ran much better," said Bantz. "We're beginning to understand it's a lot of hard work."
Finishing outside the top five for their respective teams were: Sam Staugler (100th - 27:52) for the Fort Recovery girls, Kari Hemmelgarn (28th - 25:45), Allison Fullenkamp (36th - 26:40), Jenna Valentine (27:07) and Kristen Selvey (27:51) for the Jay County girls and Devin Willoughby (62nd - 27:06), Dylan Cook (63rd - 27:19) and Adam Mescher (65th - 28:49) for the Jay County boys.
Junior high
Fort Recovery's boys team posted a third-place finish in a 14-team field while the girls were fifth out of 10.
Caleb Heitkamp had the top finish for either team, placing sixth in 12-minutes, 56 seconds.
Nicole Heitkamp paced the girls team in 14th, finishing in 15:05.
Ryan Heitkamp was 18th in 13:33, and Alan Vogel placed 26th in 13:52. Rounding out the team score were Mathias Koester (28th - 13:59) and Derek Rammel (38th - 14:21).
Alexis Sutter was second for the Fort Recovery girls and 28th overall in 15:04. She was followed by Claire Wendel (33rd - 15:51), Abby Huelskamp (34th - 15:53) and Casey Backs (43rd - 16:22).[[In-content Ad]]
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