Indians taking nine to state

TROY, Ohio — The Indians are going to need the full-sized bus.

Both of their returning state qualifiers are heading back to Columbus. And thanks to another strong relay effort Friday, they’ll have a contingent of athletes with them.

Mara Pearson repeated as the regional long jump champion, Trevor Heitkamp earned himself a return trip and a second Fort Recovery High School relay qualified Friday night at Troy to give the Indians a group of nine that will be competing in the OHSAA Division III Track and Field State Finals next weekend.

Ellie Will, Megan Diller, Natalie Brunswick, Anna Roessner, Kiana Matsuda, Paige Guggenbiller, Kennedy Muhlenkamp, Pearson and Heitkamp all earned berths in the state meet, which will be contested June 2 and 3 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University.

Three state berths — two in relays — led the FRHS girls to a tie for fifth place in the regional with Fairlawn at 25 points in the field of 43 scoring teams. Ahead of the Tribe were Minster (88), Fort Loramie (47.5), Botkins (47) and Legacy Christian (34).

Heitkamp’s seven points placed the Indian boys 28th out of 42 scoring teams.

Pearson, who was seventh in the state in the event last season, repeated as the regional long jump champion with a leap of 18 feet, 2.75 inches, that put her a half-foot clear of the rest of the field. It marked the third time this season that she has cleared 18 feet. (Her school is 19 feet, 0.5 inches.)

Caroline Wesner of Lehman Catholic was second at 17 feet, 6.75 inches.

Heitkamp was the only other Indian individual to earn a state berth, and it came in a different event than a year ago. He earned his trip to Columbus in the 1,600 run, finishing fourth in the regional at 4 minutes, 26.91 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of fifth-place Troy Stucke of Marion Local.

After finishing 13th in the state in the 3,200 run last season, he missed making it through in that event as he posted a time of 9:57.8 for seventh place. (The top four finishers in each event and the next two fastest times across all regional meets statewide earn a trip to the state finals.)

While Pearson dominated the long jump, she, Roessner, Matsuda and Guggenbiller earned their state berth in the 4x100 relay by the narrowest of margins. They finished fourth in the race, edging Finneytown in a photo finish by one hundredth of a second in 51.05.

Fort Recovery’s 4x800 relay team of Brunswick, Will, Diller and Muhlenkamp had already secured their state berth with a school-record time during the opening night of regional competition Wednesday.

Also Friday, Brunswick finished in sixth place in the 3,200 run in 11:50.15, about seven seconds behind fourth-place finisher Chaney Cedarleaf of Minster, Roessner had a time of 1:02.63 for seventh in the 400 dash and Matsuda placed eighth in the 300 hurdles at 48.81. Ellie Will crossed the finish line in 5:47.98 in the 1,600 run for 13th place.

After earning the No. 4 seed in the 4x400 relay Wednesday, the team of Roessner, Matsuda, Will and Diller was in position for a state berth only to be disqualified for stepping off the track short of the finish line.