FR third at invite

The Indians have a relatively small roster.

They still find a way to score big chunks of points.

Fort Recovery High School’s girls swim team had five finishes in the top four Saturday, including a pair of wins, as it finished third in a field of 16 teams at the Jay County Invitational.

The Indians scored 213 points to finish nine ahead of fourth-place Coldwater and 11 ahead of the fifth-place host Patriots. Versailles scored 374.5 to win, with Oak Hill (332) in second.

The Jay County (105.5) and Fort Recovery (90) boys were ninth and 11th, respectively. Bluffton’s 493 points gave it the championship over Oak Hill (475).

The Tribe girls started strong, getting a fast start from Teigen Fortkamp on the first leg of the 200-yard medley relay. Paige Guggenbiller, Joelle Kaup and Makenna Huelskamp kept the advantage for a win by more than a second over Versailles in 2 minutes, 2.56 seconds.

Fortkamp also owned the 100 backstroke for FRHS as she won by 1.5 seconds over Lydia Hect of Versailles in 1:02.5. She added a time of 56.81 for second in the 100 freestyle.

Autumn Leuthold, Fortkamp, Kaup and Huelskamp were third in the 200 freestyle relay at 1:53.66, and Kaup added a fourth-place finish at 26.7 in the 50 freestyle.

Sage Wendel paced the FRHS boys with runner-up efforts in the 100 butterfly (58.26) and 100 backstroke (1 minute flat).

Sixth-place was the high-water mark for the Jay County girls in individual races. Aubrey Millspaugh did it first in the 500 freestyle in 6:25.65 and Zion Beiswanger matched the placement in the 100 breaststroke in 1:20.12. Others in the top eight were Sophia Hoevel (seventh – 200 freestyle) and Avery Wentz (eight – 100 backstroke).

Morgan DeHoff, Lauren Fisher, Beiswanger and Wentz were third in the 200 medley relay in 2:08.08.

Joseph Dow in the 200 freestyle and Matthew Fisher in the 100 backstroke shared the best finish for the Patriot boys, both placing ninth.

“Avery Wentz had an outstanding day today,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik. “Emma Ransom had a great day today.” (Ransom was 18th in the 500 freestyle.)

“Matthew Fisher knocked out a couple really good times, improving from where he was at sectional last year,” Slavik added.