Indians shoot well, place sixth

CELINA, Ohio — Three Indians posted career-best scores in an 18-hole event. Two more made their varsity debuts for a tournament.

Despite posting some of their best scores, the Indians couldn’t climb into the top half of the standings.

The Fort Recovery High School girls golf team posted a 417 to finish sixth at the Gary Broering Invite at Mercer County Elks on Wednesday.

Last season, the Indians shot a 423, which earned them a second-place finish. Their 417 this season had them sitting sixth out of 10 teams. Fort Loramie took the top spot with a 390, while St. Henry and Minster followed closely with scores of 391 and 392, respectively. New Bremen (413) and Coldwater (414) both finished ahead of Fort Recovery as well, while Marion Local (451), Celina (466), Wapakoneta (478) and Parkway (551) all fell behind.

Olivia Knapke led the Indians with her best 18-hole round at 88 strokes. She made three pars on the 10th, 12th and 15th holes, all of which are par-4s. She also had eight bogeys. Knapke’s score earned her a tie for ninth with Minster’s Stella Mumaw, Hanna Lee of Wapakoneta and Fort Loramie’s Kim Billing. (Lauren Heitkamp of Minster earned match medalist honors with an 81.)

Mallory Evers and Evvie Briner came in just behind her as they shot career-best scores of 100 and 104 strokes. Between the two, they made three pars and 16 bogeys.

Layla Armstrong made up the final score in her first 18-hole event by carding a 114. She made par twice.

Georgia Wenning and Cora Pearson shot a 117 and 119 that didn’t affect the final score.

Scholarship awarded

The OHSAA recently awarded $200,000 to recent high school graduates, including Fort Recovery’s Kennedy Muhlenkamp,  as part of the Scholar-Athlete Scholarship Program.

Award-winning student athletes were selected by their respective District Athletic Board based on a point system that rewards students for GPAs, class rank, community service, varsity letters and  athletic honors.

While at Fort Recovery High School, Muhlenkamp competed on the volleyball, girls basketball and girls track teams.

She totaled 164 kills, 342 digs, 42 assists and 22 aces on the 2024 volleyball team that made its first regional appearance since 2020.

Muhlenkamp was the second leading scorer on the 2024-25 girls basketball team at 11.3 points per game, earning her a spot on the Second Team All-Midwest Athletic Conference.

She also competed on the 4x800-meter relay team that made it to the Division III State Tournament in 2023 that took 13th.