Strong start

MARIA STEIN, Ohio — The Indians were just looking to “rip off the bandaid” and shake off the dust during their season opener.

Finding a plethora of success was just an added bonus.

The Fort Recovery High School girls track team had seven first-place finishes while competing in a quad meet at Marion Local on Tuesday. The boys team had eight scoring performances as well in the season opener.

The girls totaled 63 points to finish as the runners-up to Coldwater with 94.5. Marion Local and New Knoxville trailed behind with 51.5 and 26 points each.

“How can we not be happy about today?” said FRHS girls coach Christy Diller. “We had a bunch of kids PR in the first meet of the year. Everybody looked pretty solid, vibes were high as the kids say.”

Marion Local ran away with the win on the boys side, totaling 123 points. Coldwater sat comfortably in second with 89, while New Knoxville and Fort Recovery fell to third and fourth with 27 and 17 points, respectively.

“Feeling pretty good,” said FRHS boys coach Charlie Vasey. “We’ve got a lot of new people who did some good things. We’ve got some stuff to learn from too, but overall pretty positive.”

A handful of athletes had success, led by Madison Heitkamp and Anna Roessner, who each claimed a pair of events.

Madison Heitkamp set new career bests in all three of her individual events and won two of them. She highlighted her performance in the 300-meter hurdles, which she won with a time of 52.93 seconds. Heitkamp cruised to the top spot, gaining nearly a full hurdle advantage and beating Coldwater’s Mariah Ross by 4.62 seconds.

“I’m proud of myself,” Heitkamp said. “I’ve trained a lot more this summer than what I usually would, so I was kind of expecting some PRs and a better race than usual. I wouldn’t say I’m super surprised, but I’m happy about what I raced.”

She also took first place in the 100 hurdles, leaning over the finish line to take down Madelyn Lange of Coldwater by 0.02 seconds. Heitkamp beat her previous career best by nearly a full second with a 17.23 run. Her other career best of 15 feet, 4.5 inches earned her third in the long jump.

Roessner also pulled off a pair of first-place finishes in the 100 and 400 dashes. A 12 flat in the 100 dash topped Coldwater’s Claire Bertke by 0.72 seconds. She had the only time under a minute in the 400 dash, finishing in 57.35 seconds.

Those two Indians weren’t the only ones to have success, as three secured the top spot in an event and two more individuals and two relays earned points.

“It was a real confidence booster for them,” Diller said. “It was good for them to see not only one kid having success, but all of them having success.”

One major demonstration of the team’s depth came in the 800 run as the Tribe swept the top three spots. Kennedy Muhlenkamp won the event with a 2 minutes, 36.36 seconds, while Joelle Kaup and Riley Heitkamp followed with times of 2:46.65 and 2:47.25, respectively.

Kaup and Riley Heitkamp also scored in the 1,600 run, the former winning the event in 5:56.37 and the latter finishing fourth with a 6:02.02.

The other victory came in a career performance from Karlie Niekamp. The senior set a new career mark of 116 feet, 3.5 inches in the discus.

“It was a good first meet to get things going,” Niekamp said. “My coach has been pushing me and knows I can do great things this season. He’s been fine tuning my form because I haven’t been throwing for that long, so I’m excited for that. … I still feel really raw.”

Niekamp also scored in the shot put, finishing fifth with a 30 foot, 6 inch throw.

Other points for the girls team came from:

•Alivia Brunswick, fifth in the 200 dash

•The 4x200 relay team that placed second

•The 4x400 relay team that placed second

FRHS junior Luke Lochtefeld flies through the air during the long jump on Tuesday’s meet at Marion Local. The first-year track athlete finished with a distance of 16 feet, 11.75 inches. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Isaac Roessner was the top point getter for the boys team. He claimed third in the long jump (19 feet, 9 inches) and fourth in the 300 hurdles (44.78).

Reese Diller and Carson Fullenkamp matched Roessner for the top individual placement. Diller ran a 5:13.87 to get third in the 1,600 run, while Fullenkamp’s throw of 43 feet, 4 inches got him the same placement in the shot put.

Other scores came from:

•Russel Hart, fifth in the 3,200 run

•Troy Post, fifth in the long jump

•The 4x100 relay team that placed third

•The 4x200 relay team that placed third

While the boys didn’t get enough points to climb in the standings, they now have a starting point to look to improve upon.

“We’re trying to get better each week,” Vasey said. “There’s a lot of stuff these guys haven’t done a ton of like working on the blocks and some of the fundamentals, so it’s kind of developing each week.”