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Seated center, Trevor Heitkamp signed a national letter of intent Tuesday to run track and cross country with Roberts Wesleyan. Seated with him from left are Aubrie, Bob and Laura Heitkamp. Standing at right are siblings Gavin and Elise Heitkamp, and behind are Fort Recovery coaches Matt Roessner and Christy Diller.
FORT RECOVERY - Fort Recovery runner Trevor Heitkamp announced the next step of his career Tuesday, signing a national letter of intent to run at Roberts Wesleyan.
Heitkamp, who reached the state cross country tournament three times as an individual and qualified for state in the 1,600 and 3,200 in track, said that in addition to the running program, he was looking for a school that was focused on personal edification.
"They're a very Christian college, and they say they're the leading institution in New York for education of character," he said. "They're trying to build people who are not just good students, but also people are good community members in general. That's why I chose them. And they have a very strong running program that I'm excited to join."
Roberts Wesleyan is a Division II school that has won nine straight East Coast Conference men's cross country championships and reached the NCAA tournament for the fourth time this fall. Roberts also won the ECC in men's outdoor track this spring and placed third in the conference in indoor track.
Heitkamp said he hoped to step in for the four seniors on this year's team and help keep up the Redhawks' standard.
"They've not been as competitive on the national level, but I'm kind of looking for a team like that, where going to nationals may be a bit of a struggle my first couple years there," he said. "I'm looking forward to helping replace the spots of those seniors that are graduating there, so in the future we can go to nationals again."
Heitkamp's cross country career peaked with a 16:33 three weeks ago at state, giving him his highest finish at 33rd. He took second in the Midwest Athletic Conference championship as a senior after winning as a junior.
He ran 14th at state in the 1,600 this spring after sweeping the distance races at the MAC. As a junior, he went to state in the 3,200 and ran 13th.
Heitkamp said he plans to run both races for the Indians in the spring but isn't sure yet which events he'll pursue in college.
"I tend to run better at longer distances, and college has the 10K and the 5K, so I could see myself doing that," he said. "But I could also see myself more as a mid-distance runner."
For the spring, although he hopes to return to state and to close the final six seconds to break Phil Ranly's school record in the 1,600, he wants to focus on enjoying the sport.
"I've always been a really focused runner, so I've never really enjoyed racing too much," he said. "That's something I want to start enjoying more. I want to take the pressure off myself and have more fun."
Heitkamp, who plans to double major in biochemistry and mathematics, chose Roberts Wesleyan over Gannon, Thomas More and Malone.
"They reached out to me pretty early on, after cross country last year, and their message was pretty simple," he said. "It was, 'Do you want to go run at a college where you're going to find success, where we're going to build you up as a runner and as a person?' "
