Tribe pair wins district

SPENCERVILLE, Ohio — One is a thrower. The other a sprinter.

But they’re both champions.

Juniors Whitley Rammel and Abbie Francis both claimed district championships for the Fort Recovery High School girls track team in the Division III Northwest District track and field championships Saturday.

The Indians totaled 69 points for fourth place behind champion Minster (117.5), runner-up Coldwater (94) and third-place Marion Local (85).

Minster also claimed the boys’ championship with 143.5 points. Marion Local (110.5) was runner-up, and Lincolnview (51) placed third. Fort Recovery was 12th out of 18 scoring teams with 18 points.

Rammel, who already had the school record in shot put, improved her own mark with a distance of 40 feet, 2.5 inches. She claimed the championship over Marion Local’s Molly Winner by more than 16 inches.

Francis backed up her top seed of 12.88 seconds in the 100-meter dash by sprinting to a time of 12.63 seconds for her championship.

Natalie Brunswick, a freshman, placed third in the 1,600 run to earn a spot in the regional meet at Troy.

The top four places in each event advance to regional.

Allysen Fullenkamp, Mara Pearson, Marie Nachtsheim and Francis placed fourth in the 4x100 relay. They had a time of 51.5 seconds in the final, with Spencerville’s team winning the title in 50.81 seconds. The Tribe’s preliminary time of 51.48 seconds lowered their own program record.

Kierra Wendel, Ellie Will, Ava Bubp and Brunswick teamed to place third in the 4x800 relay. Wendel, Pearson, Fullenkamp and Francis placed fourth in the 4x200 relay, while Wendel, Francis and Brunswick teamed with Megan Diller for a fourth-place finish in the 4x400 relay.

The only regional qualifier for the FRHS boys came from a quartet of sprinters. Owen Moorman, Derek Jutte, Reece Guggenbiller and Gavin Thobe had a time of 1 minute, 34.85 seconds, for fourth.

Also scoring points for the FRHS girls were Rammel (second – high jump), Pearson (fourth – long jump, sixth – 200 dash), Will (fifth – 3,200 run) and Wendel (seventh – 800 run).

Finishing in the top eight for the Tribe boys were Trevor Heitkamp (eighth – 3,200 run), Moorman (fifth – 200 dash), Thobe (sixth – long jump), Jutte (eighth – long jump) and the 4x100 relay team of Riley Hiser, Moorman, Jutte and Thobe.