Tribe runners finish strong at MAC

COLDWATER — In 2022, the girls were runners-up and the boys finished seventh. Trevor Heitkamp was also crowned as the conference champion for the Indians.

In 2023, while Heitkamp fell eight seconds short, the boys were able to improve their conference finish to sixth.

The Fort Recovery High School cross country teams both had strong performances at the Midwest Athletic Conference Championship at Coldwater High School on Saturday as the girls came in second with 95 points and the boys finished sixth with 152.

Versailles won the boys race with a score of 48, while Minster ran away with the girls after claiming five of the top six spots for 17 points.

Natalie Brunswick took the fourth spot in the girls race away from Minster, crossing the finish line at 19 minutes, 30.83 seconds. Margaret Hemmelgarn of Minster earned first place with an 18:45.54.

After finishing first last year, Trevor Heitkamp (16:17.15) fell to second as New Bremen’s Zach Wiedeman surged to first in 16:09.76.

Both Natalie Brunswick and Heitkamp made the MAC First Team, which includes the top-12 finishers from the boys and girls.

Both Parker Brunswick (17:36.14) and Ellie Will (20:37.43) finished in 14th place to earn spots on the MAC Second Team. Joelle Kaup (20:47.86) also made the team with a 19th-place finish.

Rounding out the girls’ score were Anna Roessner in 32nd place and Jenna Hart in 37th.

The final three scores for the boys came from Reese Diller (33rd), Evan Evers (60th) and Milo Fiely (88th).

Madison Heitkamp, Nicole Braun, Aidan Heitkamp and Christian Marchal finished as the final two non-scoring spots for each team.

Middle School

The Fort Recovery Middle School cross country teams also competed in the MAC Championship on Saturday at Coldwater. The boys worked a fourth-place finish with 135 points while the girls fell to sixth with 143.

Versailles won both races with a score of 15 for the boys as they swept the top-five spots and 32 for the girls.

Alex Roessner paced the Indians to finish 10th with a time of 12:08.77. First place went to Max McKibben of Versailles, who took 11:03.95 to cross the finish line. 

Also scoring for the Indians were Evan Diller (25th), Charlie Stammen (35th), Gavin Heitkamp (41st) and Andrew Rehmert (48th).

Leading the girls was Riley Heitkamp. She finished in 19th place with a time of 13:43.35. The top time came from Minster’s Joanna Topp with 12:25.59.

Other scores came from Courtney Klenke (19th), Clair Grube (41st), Addyson Heitkamp (55th) and Yoselin Juarez-Gomez (56th).