Granted, the temperature was much warmer on Tuesday, but the Columbus East boys and girls track teams made some major improvements over Saturday’s season opener.
The Olympians, who fell to Bloomington South in dual meets on Saturday, picked up their first wins of the season Tuesday. East’s boys beat Seymour 71-52, and the girls downed the Owls 83-40.
“Our goal we talk about all year is every meet, to get better,” East boys coach David Miller said. “It was much improved from Saturday.”
Senior T.C. O’Neal and sophomore Ashley Allen were triple winners to lead their respective teams. O’Neal won the boys high jump (6-0), long jump (21-5) and 400 meters (51.8 seconds); and Allen took the girls long jump (15-9), 100 (13.1) and 200 (27.2).
O’Neal had won the same three events in Saturday’s opener.
“It feels good just to see all your hard work that you’ve done in preseason and all the years before pay off,” O’Neal said. “I feel good about the way I competed today.”
The Olympians also got wins from Zach Clark in the shot put (46-5½) and discus (134-6). Cam Wilson took the 100 (11.2), Paul Bean captured the 1,600 (4:39), Owen Rupp won the 300 hurdles (45.3). Jamon Hogan, Luke Poindexter, Caleb Pettit and O’Neal teamed to win the 4×400 relay.
For the girls, Beyoncey Coleman-Turner swept the shot (33-11 1/2) and discus (111-5). Becca Bryan won the 100 hurdles (16.7), Cortney VanLiew took the 400 (1:03) and Lizzy Frazier captured the 800 (2:39).
Kayla Gastineau, Liz Hagan, Allen and Taylor Smith won the 4×100 relay in 52.4. Sydnie Wilson, Yami Diaz, Natalie Glaid and VanLiew took the 4×400 relay.
“There was a lot of improvement,” East girls coach Glen Brown said. “I think all of our times either were the same or went down, so I’m pleased about that. Everybody was giving great effort. It’s a little better when it’s warm.”
As was the case on Saturday, the pole vault was not contested because one of the landing mats in the pit was damaged.
