Seniors finish on top

OBETZ, Ohio — Jenna Hart learned throughout the season that she needed to start races conservatively and ramp things up near the end.

She came out ultra conservative on Saturday and that strategy did not fail her.

Coming down the final stretch of the race, Hart had the energy to pass one last girl. The Indians needed every single point they could get.

Hart passed Jilian Curfman of Grandview Heights to finish 160th as the fifth scorer for the Fort Recovery High School girls cross country team that finished 10th at the OHSAA State cross country championship at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park on Saturday.

The Indians finished with 306 points to earn the 10th-place finish, just one point above Fairbanks and Sand Valley who had 307 each. Midwest Athletic Conference foe Minster took home the crown with 62 points.

The finish was the best the FRHS girls have ever had at the state meet. In 1999 and 2021 the Indians finished 12th, but couldn’t crack the top-10 until now.

“It's pretty amazing,” coach Christy Diller said. “The first year, we went down there with Ellie (Will) and Jenna, we were 13th, then 12th, then 13th again, and then to come back and finish 10th, in a year where we maybe weren't really expected to even return to state, is a huge accomplishment for these kids.

“They just really stepped up, we were ranked 15th coming into this meet today, and anytime we can perform higher than our ranking is always a good day. … I'm very proud of all of them.”

Fort Recovery needed all seven Indians to earn 10th place.

Hart’s conservative start had her sitting in 183rd – third to last and seventh on the team – as she entered the stadium for the first time. She picked off a small pack to clock in at 174th for the 450 meter mark.

She slowly gained ground as the race went along. Between the 450-meter mark and the one-mile mark, she passed five runners.

As Hart entered the stadium for the third time, nearing the two mile mark, she caught up to Maddie Heitkamp and Anna Roessner. Hart crossed the two-mile mark in 163rd, just before Roessner, to make it six runners she picked off during the second mile.

Hart passed Heitkamp during the third mile to put her in position to score for Fort Recovery. Hart, along with Ellie Will, have been a part of the team all four years of high school and scored at the state tournament the first three years. While Hart finished second on the team the first two years and last year, she has dealt with shin splints throughout her senior season, making it a battle to score.

“It just felt good getting it all four years,” Hart said. “Scoring all those years, that's just pretty cool to me and everything.”

Along with passing Heitkamp, the senior over took two more girls but lost a spot to Curfman with only 100 meters to the finish line. Hart unloaded all of the energy she had left, even ripping off her headband, to push and pass Curfman to beat her to the finish line by five seconds. Hart’s final time was 22 minutes, 8.77 seconds.

“it was just crazy,” Hart said. “Every race  I go out and have to keep picking people off because I can’t log out fast.

“I just kept telling myself, ‘this is the last one I have to go if I wanted to, be proud of myself.’ So I reminded myself ‘work with the pain and just go. It’ll all be over soon.’”

Along with Hart, Will scored for a fourth time by finishing 105th in 20:42.05.

Both Natalie Brunswick and Joelle Kaup shaved time off of their performances from last season.

While Brunswick’s 43rd-place finish (19:41.65) was 10 spots back from a year ago, she cut five seconds from her time. Kaup came in as the seventh runner last season running nearly 23 minutes flat. The junior dropped nearly two minutes from that time to finish 124th in 21:16.91 in arguably the most consistent race out of all the Indians.

Freshman Makenna Huelskamp was the second-best score for Fort Recovery as she earned 90th place with a time of 20:26.59. Huelskamp came out strong to sit 46th at the 450 meter mark and finished strong to only drop 23 total spots in the second and third mile. The distance between the 450-meter mark and the one-mile mark was the main time she lost position as 21 girls passed her.

“In the second mile, I tried to restart my race,” Huelskamp said. “I sprinted for a little while and then just settled back down. … My second mile is always like, a minute slower than my first mile. … I didn't feel bad at all. So I decided to just go for it.”

While Roessner and Heitkamp didn’t score for the team, they both played important roles in finishing top 10. Heitkamp finished 165th and Roesnner finished 167 while the fifth runners from Fairbanks (Mollie Thrush) and Sandy Valley (Mikayla Palmer) were 174th and 176th respectively. Therefore, Heitkamp and Roessner knocked the scores of other schools down just enough to secure the spot.

Post race, the team was able to bask in what they achieved throughout the year and celebrate the careers of Brunswick, Hart, Will and Trevor Heitkamp.

“I figured we would need everyone turned on,” Diller said. “We got that today.

“It just made me smile. Our big theme this week is we're just going to be happy. We're going to be grateful for being here. … They’re good kids and I’m happy they’re happy. That’s what’s important at the end of the day.”