Strong return

The Indians didn’t have an abundance of swimmers in the 2022-23 season. They still sent four girls to the state meet.

The Indians lose three swimmers to graduation, but reload with three freshmen and another newcomer.

The Fort Recovery High School girls swim team returns three legs of its state-qualifying relay team, including individual qualifier Teigen Fortkamp for the 2023-24 season and is looking to punch some more bids to the district and state meets.

“I think we’ll be strong again this year,” coach Mindy Bubp said. “In the end, I would like to see some of our swimmers move on to the district level and, and hopefully beyond.”

While the Indians return strong swimmers, both the boys and girls teams lose key contributors in the form of Jackson Ervin and Audra Bubp. That will leave the boys team with just three swimmers.

Reprising their roles for the girls team from the state-qualifying relay are Fortkamp (backstroke), Joelle Kaup (butterfly) and Paige Guggenbiller (freestyle). Mindy Bubp thinks that Guggenbiller and Kaup can both take steps forward this season.

“Looking at Paige Guggenbiller and her freestyle, she only started swimming her sophomore year,” Mindy Bubp said. “So, she still has a lot of room for improvement.

“I think Joelle Kaup as well is getting stronger in the offseason. I see her being able to improve a lot this year.”

Things will all get tied together by Fortkamp. The senior is coming off of a 21st-place finish at state in the 50 freestyle and a 19-place finish in the backstroke.

Mindy Bubp said that she thinks that some pressure has been lifted from Fortkamp as she is committed to play volleyball at St. Francis University with her sister Paige — Fortkamp will be making the commitment official with a signing on Friday afternoon. Still, her coach noticed her working hard in the early stages of the season.

“I want to push myself and my teammates everyday,” Fortkamp said. “The ‘senioritis’ is kicking in so, I want to stay focused and finish the season well this year.”

Audra Bubp was a district qualifier in the 100-yard breaststroke and swam the second leg for the 200 medley relay that placed 18th at state with a time of 1 minute, 53.1 seconds — just two spots and 0.15 seconds behind the final team to make it out of the prelims.

Current candidates to replace Audra Bubp’s spot in the 200 medley include Allison Knapke, Autumn Leuthold and Makenna Huelskamp. Mindy Bubp plans to rotate the three throughout the season to find what lineups work the best.

The girls will also have divers this year with newcomer Olivia Albers and freshman Theresa Hipple getting on the board.

Rounding out the roster are Nevaeh Lennartz who will swim the 500 freestyle and freshman Aubrey Shuttleworth who currently, Mindy Bubp is unsure where she will be placed.

Ervin’s departure leaves Carson Fullenkamp, Caleb Smith and Sage Wendel as the only members of the boys team.

“That's a little bit disappointing for us because we won’t be able to have relays,” Bubp said. “It’ll make it very difficult for us to compete as a team, but the boys are excited.”

Wendel will headline the boys team, as one of his individual goals include breaking his school records. He also will look to return to the district meet, as last season he qualified in the individual medley and the backstroke.

For the boys, Smith will likely stick with the backstroke and sprint freestyle while Fullenkamp will swim the breaststroke and mid-distance freestyles.

Evaluating if the year was successful won’t be as simple as looking at overall results for the Indians this season. It will be based on the goals of each individual from setting personal bests, to making it back to state.

“Working on our own personal best times is always such a good motivator,” Mindy Bubp said. “It’s also important for them to have fun and have a good season as well.”