Been here before

On Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, Ellie Will finished 40th with a time of 19 minutes, 53.8 seconds. Jenna Hart came in 91st at 20:51.

On Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, Will placed 70th in 20:14.5 while Hart was 82nd with a 20:27.0.

On Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, Will earned 72nd with a 20:41.1 and Hart was 91st after running a 21:07.6.

Will and Hart are now looking for an opportunity to run on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023.

The pair will run at the OHSAA Division III regional 10 at Hedges Boyer Park in Tiffin as the Fort Recovery High School girls cross country team tries to earn a state berth for the fourth year in a row. Joining the girls will be senior Trevor Heitkamp who is vying for his third state appearance.

Seniors Will and Hart boast the most experience of the Indians, having ran and scored at the past three regional meets.

“They have not only made it to state three years in a row, but have been scoring members of their team for three years,” coach Christy Diller said. “They're our backbone. Nobody in our school’s history has gone in cross country four years in a row. They're the first ones to do it three years in a row.”

Will is seeded 52nd at the meet while Hart is 113th based on their results in the district meet at Columbus Grove. Joining them will be senior Natalie Brunswick (13th), Juniors Joelle Kaup (55th) and Anna Roessner (99th), sophomore Maddie Heitkamp (119th) and freshman Makenna Huelskamp (did not compete at district). Everyone other than Maddie Heitkamp and Huelskamp have experience running in the regional.

Huelskamp hasn’t competed since Sept. 11 when she finished 12th at the Tiffin Carnival. She has sat out of the previous five meets while dealing with an aggravated hip, but has been outside of the top 10 or better in the four races she’s ran in. Coach has liked what she’s seen from Huelskamp in practices recently and feels comfortable reinserting her into the lineup for the regional to help add depth.

“I’m a little nervous to run again,” Huelskamp said. “But I feel pretty confident as well. … I’m looking forward to it, especially in a race like regionals.”

In the pre-district Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches’ poll, Fort Recovery was voted No. 16 among schools in Division III. Teams that were ranked ahead of them that will also be competing at Tiffin are No. 1 Minster, No. 4 Liberty Center, No. 6 Huron, No. 11 Patrick Henry and No. 14 Lincolnview. That positions the Indians as the sixth strongest team in a meet where only seven teams get to advance to the state tournament.

Nipping at the Indians’ heels are No. 18 Colonel Crawford and No. 19 Parkway. Fort Recovery beat Parkway by five points at the district meet.

The Indians have also taken down both Huron and Lincolnview when they ran at Tiffin earlier in the season. Diller is going to look to that experience and the Indians’ comfort running the course to help them through.

“The thing I think we have in our favor is most of our kids have experience at this level,” Diller said. “All of them have run the course, so I'm not worried about that. I don't think there's going to be nerves because they know what they're getting into.”

Pulling on past experiences is exactly what Trevor Heitkamp plans to do to try to make it to state as well.

When the Indians visited Tiffin earlier in the season, he broke his own school record of 15:54.69. He plans to take a similar approach to find success on Saturday.

“My training is coming to a point where I'm feeling very fresh and I'm excited to see what I can do,” Trevor Heitkamp said. “Last time I was there, I broke the school record. So I'm going into it with a lot of confidence.

“I'm planning on going out with the leaders and matching their moves. That's all I did last time. And they carried me to a great time. And I don't see why this strategy wouldn't work.”

He is seeded 12th in the race after taking things easy at the district meet.The top-28 finishers will compete at state, making him one of the favorites to get through despite having a seed that is slower than his potential.

Also sitting in a good position to qualify individually is Brunswick. She led at the district meet most of the way through before being swallowed up by a group of runners from Minster. She plans on coming out strong again to try and take advantage of a larger field where other runners can get lost in the mix.

“Going out strong is the biggest thing,” Brunswick said. “Especially with this race, because once you're out there, you stay in your position for what seems like the whole race.”

While Fort Recovery would love to get Trevor Heitkamp and Brunswick through as individuals, the ultimate goal is to get everyone to punch their ticket to Obetz.

“We need to show up,” Diller said. “It is doable, but it’s also not a walk in the park. We need to be on our ‘A game’ Saturday and I have no reason to believe we will not. People are in good spirits, they’re confident and they've been running super well.”