East boys, girls fall

Both the Columbus East boys and girls track teams won five events Tuesday night but came up short in a dual meet against Bloomington North.

The Cougars won the boys meet 84-48. Bloomington North’s 17th-ranked girls prevailed 91-41.

“We ran as fast or faster than we normally have,” East girls coach Glen Brown said. “We did some good things. Our long jumpers finally came through. They’re finally figuring out the techniques.”

The Olympians swept the girls long jump, led by Kayla Gastineau’s 15-foot, 5 1/4-inch effort. Ashley Allen finished second (14-6 1/2), and Cortney VanLiew was third (14-1 1/2).

Other winners for East were Beyoncey Coleman-Turner in the discus (112-11), Katie Emmert in the 100-meter hurdles (18.2 seconds), Katie Mack in the 400 (1:05.5) and VanLiew in the 200 (27.9).

East’s boys used a pair of wins each from Steven O’Neal and Rhett Myers. O’Neal took the long jump (19-6 1/2) and 200 (22.1), and Myers captured the shot put (48-1) and discus (150-0).

The Olympians also won the 4×100 relay. Jamon Hogan, T.C. O’Neal, Steven O’Neal and Cam Wilson finished in 43.6.

The Cougars swept the three places in the pole vault, 400, 300 hurdles and 800.

“Bloomington North is a good team,” East boys coach Dave Miller said. “It’s hard to beat any team getting swept in four events and impossible to beat a good team getting swept in four events. They ran better than us tonight, and hopefully on Thursday against Columbus North, we can have better times and distances.”

The East boys and girls will host North on Thursday.

“It’s always a big meet,” Milller said. “Columbus North is a good team, and we’ll have to run faster and throw better on Thursday. It’s another chance for us to compete, and hopefully our kids will step up to the challenge.”

Brown is hoping the same thing for his girls.

“Obviously, Columbus North is a good team, and it’s going to be tough, but you never know what’s going to happen with crosstown rivals,” Brown said. “If we get a little bit of a break here and there, we’ll be right there competing with them.”