By Mark Ruschau
FORT RECOVERY -- The St. Henry girls and the New Bremen boys each took home first place in a four-team track and field meet Monday afternoon at Barrenbrugge Park.
New Bremen won the boys portion of the meet with 124 points, which was 33 points better then runner-up St. Henry, which scored 91. Fort Recovery was third with 23 and New Knoxville finished fourth with 18.
The girls side of the meet was a little closer as St. Henry nipped New Bremen with the 'Skins scoring 88 points to 79 for the Cardinals. Fort Recovery recorded 55 points, with New Knoxville scoring 29 points.
Coming off their first place finish on Saturday at the Minster Memorial, New Bremen coach Gary Jones was very pleased with his boys' performance.
"After Saturday we wanted to get a good workout and still be competitive and we did a good job at doing both," said Jones. "I was very happy with the effort today, especially since you're tired after a big meet like Saturday. I thought we ran hard, even though our legs were tired from having a big meet just two days ago." New Bremen used its overall strength and depth to roll to the win as the Cardinals won six individual events and three relays.
The Cardinals placed two or more athletes in scoring spots in nine different events. They swept the top three spots in the 1,600, 3,200 and the long jump and the top two spots in the 100 meters, 110-meter hurdles.
Kevin Heitkamp's win in the pole vault was the highlight for New Bremen in the field events as he went 13-4 which was 2 feet better than the runner-up.
Jason Dammeyer, Brooks Topp and Brad Coyle swept the top three spots in the 1,600 meters. Josh Miller captured the 3,200 with Topp placing second and Coyle third.
St. Henry dominated the sprint and middle-distance events as Jon Hemmelgarn won the 200 meters, Jared Stammen and Hemmelgarn swept the top spots in the 400 and Tony Hess and Lee Thieman swept the top two spots at 800 meters.
The St. Henry girls used their depth and sprinters to offset a dominating performance by the New Bremen distance racers to post the nine-point win.
"We just don't have the numbers to be as competitive as we want to be," said New Bremen girls coach Sue Ritter. "It's tough when we can't double in an event. A perfect example tonight was the pole vault. Ericka Schmitmeyer wins the event but St. Henry places girls in the next three spots and outscores us 9-6."
St. Henry won just two events, Catie Evers' victories at 200 and 400 meters, but the 'Skins won three of the four relays (400, 800 and 1,600).
The 'Skins were able to win this meet as they placed in every event and had two scorers in nine events.
New Bremen dominated the four distance events as Amber Niekamp and Kylie Schwaiger went 1-2 in the 800. Niekamp and Sheri Rose went 1-2 in the 1,600 meters and Rose won the 3,200.
Kylie and Kayla Schwaiger, Niekamp and Lori Timmerman combined to win the 3,200 relay.
"Our distance runners have been our strength and has been the most consistent part of our efforts this year," said Ritter. "They have been working hard and it's nice to see that their hard work is paying off."
Vicki Roessner and Holly Stein each won two events for Fort Recovery. Stein won the throwing events and Roessner won both hurdle races. |
