Seniors’ swan song

Christy Diller knew if her team executed that it would find itself at the state meet.

The Indians came through at the regional meet with some starting to peak at the right times.

Now they are riding a high as they attempt to put together their best performance.

The Fort Recovery High School girls cross country team and Trevor Heitkamp are full of energy as they get ready to run at the OHSAA Division III state meet at Fortress Obetz on Saturday. The team will look to try and crack the top-10 while Heiktmap and Natalie Brunswick are looking to make the All-Ohio teams, but ultimately, the Indians are looking to enjoy the fruits of their labor and the seniors want to use this opportunity as a celebration of their careers.

“Our main priority is to celebrate the hard work of the season,” Diller said. “The best way to end the season is at state, and we have been extremely lucky to do that the last couple of years. So, we just want to go and celebrate these kids and have a good time.”

This will be Heitkamp’s third straight appearance at the state meet. In 2021 he came in 76th and improved to 35th in 2022.

The senior has set two goals for himself. The first goal is to make the All-Ohio team, which includes the top 30 finishers. The second goal is a lot more lofty. 

Heitkamp wants to run a time in the 16 minute to upper-15 minute range to make a push for the top-10. His current school record is a 15 minutes, 53 seconds that he set at the Troy Twilight meet on Sept. 19. That time would have earned a third-place finish at the state meet last year.

“Obviously, it's my last cross country race I'm running for Fort Recovery, so I want it to be a good one,” Heitkamp said. “But I also understand it's a championship setting. Sometimes how these races go is it's not about time, it's about place. 

“People will go out really fast. So you get boxed in stuff like that time can't always come, but ideally I’d be around that school record range. I've been dreaming of a 15:30. We'll see if that happens.”

Heitkamp didn’t have the strongest performance at the regional, starting strong but fading from sixth to 12th place in the final mile. He is hoping that some changes to his race plan, including eating more and getting more rest – will help change those fortunes Saturday.

Brunswick also holds the goal of making the All-Ohio team.

In her only appearance at state, she finished just 3.6 seconds away from the athlete who finished 30th as she came in 33rd.

She had a strong performance at the regional, posting a season-best time as she held 19th place nearly the entire race.

“I'm ready to run this,” Brunswick said. “It's exciting because last week was a super good race. I thought it had a good ending, and I felt pretty comfortable the whole race. Now it’s one last final race, especially my senior year, so I'm ready to go and have fun with it.”

For the other two seniors, Ellie Will and Jenna Hart, Saturday will be their fourth times competing at state. Will’s best finish came as a freshman when she was 40th while Hart’s 82nd finish in her sophomore year was her best.

They just want to come out and try to run the best race each of them can to try and push the team past the finishes from the previous three years.

“I need to push myself throughout the whole race,” Hart said. “Reminding myself it’s my last race, so I have to give it my all … and tell myself however it ends up turning out I just have to be proud of myself.”

“I would like to run a good race,” Will added. “No matter what really happens, I think we'll all be happy because we ended up going as far as we possibly could. It would be nice if we could beat our team placing from the last three years.”

The Indians have finished 13th, 12th and 13th. In 2021, they were three points away from the top-10.

Joining the three seniors will be juniors Joelle Kaup and Anna Roessner, sophomore Maddie Heitkamp and freshman Makenna Huelskamp. While Saturday won’t be the last race for those four, they have been impacted by the seniors’ celebratory energy.

“Everyone has been just so excited,” Hart said. “Even at practice (Monday), we’re all talking the whole time with happy energy and good vibes. We’re happy to see it end in a good way.”

When asked about what a successful result from the state meet would look like, Diller’s answer was aligned with what the seniors said. She would like to see some of the Indians make All-Ohio, thinks some have a chance of breaking the top-20 to find themselves on the podium and said an amazing outcome would be cracking the top-10 as a team.

While results and accolades would be great, Diller ultimately wants all eight athletes to cross the finish line satisfied and happy not only with the performance they had at Fortress Obetz, but throughout the entire year.

“We just want to go and celebrate these kids and have a good time,” Diller said. “We want them to use all that hard work that they’ve put in.

“I told them, ‘All of the hay is in the barn. We’ve stacked it so nicely. Saturday, you can light it on fire and go to town.’”