FR record falls at MAC meet

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians saved their best performances for their conference rivals.

The defending champs know what they’ve got to build on. The girls are aiming to keep the momentum going.

Fort Recovery High School’s girls had five runners place sixth or better and had a relay break a school record while two Tribe boys had a pair of top-eight finishes in the final day of the Midwest Athletic Conference track and field championships in hosted on Friday at Barrenbrugge Athletic Park.

“I think they did great,” FRHS coach Christy Diller said of her girls squad. “We definitely can tighten a couple areas up that it’s not that far off and we’re a place higher.

“A lot of these girls are young. We have a big crew of seniors, (and) we have a big crew of freshmen, so that’s good to know we’re retaining them next year for another step up.”

Minster totaled 135.5 points to win its seventh in the last eight seasons (not including the canceled 2020 year). Versailles had 108 points for third, and Coldwater, the 2019 champion, was third. Fort Recovery finished fifth with 76 points.

The Minster boys scored 168 for its first title since 2016 and a Wildcat sweep. Marion Local was the runner-up with 130.5 points, and Versailles totaled 104.5 points for third. The FRHS boys, who were defending the 2019 championship but graduated much of that squad over the last two years, was eighth out of 10 teams with 33 points.

Allysen Fullenkamp, Mara Pearson, Marie Nachtsheim and Abbie Francis set a new school record in the 4x100-meter relay, finishing with a time of 51.99 seconds. They finished fourth while breaking the mark of 52.5 seconds, which had stood since 2010.

Natalie Brunswick, a freshman, backed up her No. 3 seed in the 1,600 run by ending in the same spot in 5 minutes, 19.05 seconds. Minster’s Ella Boate raced to the title in 5:10.79.

Another freshman, Ellie Will, who was the third seed in the 3,200 run, was stuck behind Minster teammates Chaney Cedarleaf and Boate for most of the race, eventually passing Cedarleaf after five laps. But Cedarleaf made a late push on the front stretch to overtake Will, and the FRHS youngster ended third in 11:58.3, a second behind Cedarleaf.

“She dropped big time,” Diller said. “Jenna (Hart) is a freshman, she dropped big time.”

Hart finished sixth in 12:48.1.

Francis, a junior, finished fifth in the 100 dash, which was two spots below her seed entering the meet. Pearson, who was the conference’s long jump champion on Tuesday, matched her seed by finishing fifth in the 200 dash as well.

“Our girls stepped up today,” Diller said. “All the kids just ran lights out today. I think almost every kid ran a season best across the board.”

Fort Recovery’s 4x200 relay team of Kierra Wendel, Fullenkamp, Pearson and Francis was the runner-up in 1:49.08, more than three seconds behind the quartet from Coldwater.

Freshman Trevor Heitkamp had a pair of top-six finishes for the boys. He was third in 3,200 run, crossing the line in 10:31.6 about an hour after taking sixth in the 1,600 run.

Owen Moorman placed fourth in the 200 dash (23.74 seconds) and eighth in the 100 dash (11.98 seconds). Bryan Falk of Minster posted times of 22.99 seconds and 11.39 seconds, respectively, to win the title in each.

The Tribe’s 4x100 relay team was third. The 4x200 relay struggled with some of its exchanges and placed fourth.

“We have some things we need to tighten up on the relays and they know that,” Diller said. “They have the potential to drop time in both of their relays.

“It’s a good stepping stone. We are very young again this year. We graduated all the piece of that MAC team minus two or three kids.”