Tribe girls end as county runners-up

The Indians lost some star athletes.

For the girls, it just meant the runners next in line had to step up.

The Fort Recovery High School girls cross country team finished 16 points shy of first place at the Mercer County Invitational held at Marion County Township on Tuesday.

St. Henry scored 52 points to claim the top spot, while Fort Recovery’s 68 put the Indians safely in the runners-up position. The Tribe boys finished sixth with 134 points while host Marion Local won the race with 40.

Joelle Kaup also finished as the individual runner up with a time of 20 minutes, 59.33 seconds, only 14.85 seconds slower than her fastest time from 2023. Celina’s Jannalee Dameron took the top spot with a time of 20:23.36.

Anna Roessner (22:02.73) and freshman Riley Heitkamp (22:07.46) finished back-to-back to claim the ninth and 10th places in the meet. Madison Heitkamp (23:32.69) and Kendall Ranly (25:19.57) made up the final two scores of 19 and 28.

Reese Diller secured a top-10 finish as his time of 18:13.94 secured ninth place.

Colin Buening of Celina took the top spot in 16:43.71.

Returners Russell Hart (20:23.27), Evan Evers (20:49.06) and Milo Fiely (21:14.66) made up the next three Indians scores, finishing 25th, 29th and 32nd.

Freshman Evan Diller rounded out the score by placing 39th after 22:10.67.

Patriots win opener

The Jay County volleyball team opened the 2024 season with a 25-20, 20-25, 25-22, 25-19 win over the Madison-Grant Argylls on Tuesday.

Mya Kunkler dominated play at the net for the Patriots (1-0) with nine kills and eight blocks. Maria Hemmelgarn’s net defense also excelled with six blocks.

Hallie Schwieterman also put up a strong effort with a team-high 10 kills and two blocks. Juniors Elizabeth Barnett and Kendel Rowles followed with eight and six kills, respectively.

Paisley Fugiett played a support role with 24 assists and 13 digs.

The junior varsity team also pulled out a 27-25, 24-22 victory over the Argylls.

Lydia Johnson led the way with seven kills and 11 digs for Jay County (1-0). Dishing out a team-high 10 assists in the match was Ella Rigby.

Indians sweep

ST. MARYS, Ohio — The Fort Recovery volleyball team beat the Memorial Roughriders 25-12, 25-18, 25-17 on Tuesday.

Cameron Muhlenkamp led the attack with 10 kills and three aces. Muhlenkamp also had six digs and two blocks.

Karlie Niekamp and Brynn Willman followed the sophomore with six and four kills, respectively. Niekamp led the Indians (2-0) with three blocks as well.

Kayla Heitkamp provided a lift with a team-high 16 assists and 13 digs. She also had a pair of kills and aces.

The Tribe also had a strong day at the service line, succeeding on 59 of the 66 serve attempts with eight aces.

JC just short

The Jay County girls golf team came up three strokes short Tuesday in a 218-221 loss to the Adams Central Jets at Portland Golf Club.

Maddy Snow led the way for Jay County (1-3, 1-2 Allen County Athletic Conference) with a 49, which was good enough to earn her match medalist honors.

Snow made par twice in the round, one on the 275-yard, par-4 first hole and later on the 348-yard, par-4 ninth hole. She bogeyed the second hole and ended as the only Patriot to not take a double-par on any holes.

Adam Central’s Londyn Smith finished with the Jets’ top score of 50, one stroke behind Snow.

Bailey Towell put up the second-best score for Jay County with a 56. She had bogeys on the third and eighth holes.

Rounding out the Patriots’ score were Brooklynn Bright and Erin Aker, both with 58s. Aker made bogey on the second and eighth hole, while Bright parred the ninth and bogeyed the first.

Jaycee Rowels’ and Jenna Brickers’ rounds of 70 did not affect the team score.

Still searching

ALEXANDRIA — The Jay County boys tennis team is still searching for its first win after the Alexandria Tigers beat it 5-0 on Tuesday.

Eli Dirksen won the first set of the year for Jay County (0-4) in the No. 1 singles match against Owen May. After taking the first set 7-5, Dirksen lost a 2 hour, 36 minute battle to Owens 5-7, 7-5, 10-6.

Tucker Griffin and Gabe Pinkerton also fell in the No. 2 and 3 singles matches. Austin Webb defeated Griffin 6-0, 6-0, while Blake Jones held off Pinkerton for a 6-4, 6-4 win.

Blake Kahlig and Alex Miller managed one game, but couldn’t overcome Cale Johns and Brody Sullivan in their No. 1 doubles 6-0, 6-1 loss.

Carter Wellman and Carson Westgerdes got swept by Peyton Hill and Ryan Long 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 2 doubles contest.

All three doubles matches resulted in losses as well.