JCHS netters roll at Muncie Central Invitational

MUNCIE — The Patriots are starting to figure things out.

Coach Donald Gillespie made a few changes to the lineup Saturday as the Jay County High School boys tennis team swept Blackford and Muncie Central to win the Muncie Central Invitational.

Abraham and Eli Dirksen both swept their opponents from Blackford in the No. 1 singles and No. 2 singles matches. Abraham faced Charlie Crabtree while Eli beat Carson Miller. In his first match as a single, Liam Garrigner beat Lucas Penrod 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 in the No. 3 singles.

Both doubles pairs for the Patriots (3-4) only lost one game to Blackford. In No. 1 doubles Sam Myers and Gage Sims beat Trenton Norton and Tanner Roberts (6-1, 6-0) while Isaac Miller and Luke Muhlenkamp teamed back up to beat Colt Pennington and Zaden Stone (6-0, 6-1).

Abraham Dirksen, as well as the No. 2 doubles, swept their matches against Muncie Central’s Toby Byrn and Jackson Clark and Charlie Kirby, respectively.

Eli Dirksen made quick work of Thomas Walker 6-1, 6-0. The No. 1 doubles duo beat Toby Michilini and Micky Ryder 6-1, 6-1. Garringer defeated Corby Byrn 6-4, 6-2.

Heitkamp paces Tribe

WEST MILTON, Ohio — The Fort Recovery cross country teams competed in the Bob Schul Invite hosted by Milton-Union on Saturday where the girls finished seventh (185 points) and the boys 17th (419).

West Liberty-Salem (69) ran away with the victory for the boys while Minster won for the girls.

Trevor Heitkamp set the pace for the Indian boys, finishing second (16 minutes, 23.7 seconds), only falling to Asher Long of Covington (15:50.7). Next was Parker Brunswick who finished 43rd overall.

Rounding out the boys were Reece Diller (113th), Evan Evers (164th) and Russell Hart (226th).

Natalie Brunswick and Makenna Huelskamp were at the top for the girls. Brunswick’s time of 20:07.4 earned her seventh place while Huelskamp’s 20:20.2 put her into 11th.

Ellie Will crossed the finish line 35th to score for the Indians. Rounding out their score was Anna Roessner (68th) and Jenna Hart (85th).

The junior high boys team finished in 19th-place out of 31 teams while the girls were 18th of 27.

Alex Roessner paced the boys, scoring 55th. Behind him were Gavin Heitkamp (104th), Charlie Stammen (112th), Evan Diller (138th) and Andrew Rehmert (140th).

Riley Heitkamp scored 20th to lead the girls. Also scoring were Courtney Klenke (61st), Kendall Ranly (104th), Claire Grube (118th) and Yoselin Juarez-Gomez (149th).

JV wins MAC

The Fort Recovery JV boys golf team were crowned the victors of the Midwest Athletic Conference Invitational on Saturday at Portland Golf Club.

Caleb Smith shot a 40 in the round to earn the individual MAC championship while helping his team to a score of 169, 12 strokes better than second-place Coldwater.

The highlight of Smith’s match came on the 471-yard, par-5 sixth hole. Smith got near the green in two shots and then chipped in for an eagle. He also shot two pars in the match.

Only one stroke behind Smith was Reece Evers who shot five pars in the round.

Evan Keller and Colson Post shot a 43 and 45 respectively to round out the team score. Sage Wendel and Riley Grieshop’s scores of 48 did not factor into the final. Evers won the closest to the pin golf skills challenge while Grieshop sank the longest putt.

In the JV2 individual exhibition match, Mason Diller recorded the best score, shooting a 46.