Indians set up well for regional

TROY, Ohio — The Indians’ season ended in one event and they earned a top three seed in another.

The Fort Recovery High School track team’s sprinter Anna Roessner finished third in the 100-meter dash during the OHSAA Division III regional meet prelims hosted by Troy on Wednesday.

Rossner’s time of 12.24 seconds claimed third place in the preliminary heats of the 100 dash, setting her up for a run at a state appearance in the event. (The top four finishes automatically qualify, while the next two top times across the state get bits as well.)

Both Alex Kessen of St. John’s and Delaney Jones of West Liberty-Salem beat Roessner, while also running the state standard. Tarajah Byrd (12.44) of Purcell Marion holds the No. 4 seed, while Ama Karikari (12.63) of Summit County Day sits outside looking in.

After qualifying for state in 2023, the 4x800 relay team fell short on Wednesday. Ellie Will, Kennedy Muhlenkamp, Joelle Kaup and Natalie Brunswick combined for a time of 10 minutes, 16.26 seconds, to take 10th place. St. Henry’s team took the final scoring spot in 10:07.21, while Botkins clinched the last automatic state berth in 9:48.64.

The Indians will compete in 10 other events along with the 100 dash. Of those other 10 events, Fort Recovery is seeded to make state in six of them and are just outside in three.

FRHS has the top seed in four events. Roessner’s district time of 25.05 seconds in the 200 dash gives her a 0.08 second advantage over Jones.

Mara Pearson holds the No. 1 seed over Kessen in the long jump, as her mark of 17 feet, 3 ¼ inches beat Kessen by a quarter of an inch for the district championship.

Both will likely compete as part of the 4x100 relay team that holds the top seed with a time of 49.77 seconds.

Natalie Brunswick is the only Indian favored to win a distance event. Her time of 5:20.19 seconds in the 1,600 run is 1.24 seconds faster than Chaney Cedarleaf of Minster.

Trevor Heitkamp didn’t secure a No. 1 seed in either of his events but is favored to make it through in both the 1,600 run (4:27.11) and the 3,200 run (9:54.81). He is seeded second in the former and third in the latter.

Brunswick and Kiana Matsuda sit just outside of the state projections with five seeds in the 3,200 run and 300 hurdles, respectively.

Brunswick’s time of 12:00.56 trails Callie Fox of Summit County Day by 0.62 seconds.

Matsuda (46.9 seconds) looks up at Jefferson’s Lyv Linderman who ran a 46.47 at the district meet.

Karlie Neikamp is slightly more removed as her toss of 112 feet, 6 inches, earned her the sixth seed. Spencerville’s district champion Avery Albers of New Knoxville holds the four seed at 118 feet, 2 inches.

Fort Recovery is also set to compete in the 4x800 relay. It holds the eighth best time of 4:10.54 in the event.