Columbus North and Columbus East were back on the track Friday, less than 24 hours after their meet was suspended because of rain and lightning.
In temperatures what were about 20 degrees cooler than when the meet began Thursday, the Bull Dog boys and girls ran to victories. North won the boys meet 94-38 and the girls meet 76-56.
“Obviously, it was colder this evening, and with the postponement (Thursday) evening, I thought they did a good job getting prepared mentally and coming out and doing really well,” North coach Lou Sipe said. “You have to get mentally prepared, along with making sure your body is right and getting hydrated and making good nutritional choices.”
Three boys events and five girls events were completed Thursday before lightning caused about a two-hour delay. Athletes came back to the track to warm up Thursday night, but another flash of lightning caused the meet to be delayed another day.
North senior Mitchell Burton won the long jump Thursday with a leap of 22 feet, 7 3/4 inches. Then Friday, he took the 100 meters in 10.8 seconds and the 200 in 22.5.
Also Friday, Burton anchored the 4×100 relay team, joining Damon Hunter Jr., Cortez Bandy and Jaylen Flemmons to win the 4×100 relay in a hand-held 43.2, just 17-hundreths of a second off the school record.
“We were pretty confident coming into the meet, so there’s no surprises,” Burton said. “It was just kind of weird because we would get warmed up, and then it would get delayed. But we were prepared from practice all week.”
Triston Perry won the 100 hurdles (14.8) and 300 hurdles (40.6) for the Bull Dogs. Other winners for North were Brigham Kleinhenz in the pole vault (13-0), Coleman Tennyson in the shot put (53-3), Logan Abbott in the discus (131-10), Flemmons in the 400 (51.2), Justin Spoon in the 800 (2:05.2) and Elijah Brooks in the 3,200 (9:55).
North’s Kaemon Jiles, Evan Porter, Brooks and Spoon won the 4×800 relay in 8:24.8.
Paul Bean led the Olympians with wins in the 1,600 (4:37) and 800 (2:05.2). T.C. O’Neal won the high jump (6-0), and Jamon Hogan, Caleb Pettit, Cam Wilson and O’Neal captured the 4×400 relay in 3:36.
“(Competing over two days) was tough, but I think our kids did a pretty good job at it,” East boys coach David Miller said. “That might happen in the future with conference or something like that, so it was good experience, and I think our kids mentally came back and did a very good job. The times weren’t great, and the weather probably had a lot to do with that.”
Meanwhile, North’s girls were led by double-wins from Maura VanDeventer and Arig Tong. VanDeventer took the 100 hurdles (16.9) and 300 hurdles (50.1), and Tong captured the 1,600 (5:42) and 800 (2:30.0). Also for the Bull Dogs, Jahna Smiley won the high jump (5-1) and Olivia Morlok took the 3,200 (11:44).
North’s Ana Singhal, Jennifer Gutman, Kennedy Kerber and Kirsten Ballard won the 4×800 relay in 10:28.5. Dakota Gates, VanDeventer, Smiley and Tynan took the 4×100 relay in 52.0. Katlin Meek, Roxana Mendoza, Kammy Salo and Sophie Bailey captured the 4×400 relay in 4:27.0.
East also had two double-winners with Ashley Allen taking the long jump (14-10 3/4) and 100 (13.1) and Cortney VanLiew capturing the 400 (1:00.9) and 200 (27.3). McKenna Downey won the pole vault (9-0), Beyoncey Coleman-Turner took the shot (32-7 1/2) and Seena Greiwe captured the discus (112-3).
“I thought for having the meet over two days and thinking they were going to start and not start (Thursday), I thought the girls came out and did well,” East girls coach Glen Brown said. “Times were great. We had several (personal records) again. We’re just close. If we can get better and get some help, who knows what can happen in the sectional?”
