Mackenzie Barnett and Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff have taken a liking to Columbus North’s home cross-country course at Ceraland.
Barnett, a senior, and Kilbarger-Stumpff, a junior, followed their victories in the Conference Indiana meet at Ceraland by winning individual regional titles Saturday on the same course. Their wins led the second-ranked girls and top-ranked boys to team championships.
The Bull Dog girls finished with 19 points. Brown County (85), Seymour (105), Columbus East (121) and Jennings County (138) also advanced to Saturday’s Brown County Semistate.
North’s boys scored 20 points. Jennings was runner-up with 67 and will be joined at semistate by Seymour (71), Martinsville (136) and Brown County (138).
Barnett ran a personal-brst 18 minutes, 4.4 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) breaking her PR of 18:10 at conference meet. The 18:04 puts her second in school history behind Mackenzie Barnett.
“It’s probably my favorite course,” Barnett said. “That was a PR for me, but my goal is still to go sub-18. We had more girls under 19 than I think we had all year, so our whole varsity seemed to run strong today.”
Brianna Newell and Lily Baker finished second and third in 19:19.3 and 18:31.5 for the Bull Dogs. Julie Klaus and Abby Jacobi took sixth and seventh in 18:58.2 and 18:58.5, while Ellen White and Jessica Meza were ninth and 10th in 19:11.3 and 19:17.0.
“Our girls ran absolutely amazing today,” North girls coach Rick Sluder said. “From 1-7 it was a tremendous effort. We had 5 personal bests today and another just off it. We had 5 girls break 19:00 for the first time in a long time at CN. Scoring 19 points and putting all 7 of our varsity in the Top 10 is something this team should be proud of accomplishing … Just a lights out performance top to bottom.”
Brown County’s Abby Fleetwood and Hadley Gradolf finished fourth and fifth in 18:39.8 and 18:49.0. Emelia Koester took 18th in 20:23.8, while Emma DeBord was 28th (21:22.3) and Leslie Austin 43rd (21:54.8).
Chloe Krueger led the Olympians with a 14th-place finish in 20:01.8. Laurel Knight took 16th in 20:21.3, while Carly Otte was 36th (21:42.9), Jordan Spurgeon 38th (21:51.6) and Elizabeth Stevens 41st (21:53.4).
“Chloe and Laurel did a good job pacing the team, and then that 3-4-5, our goal was to come in really tight, and they did that today,” East girls coach Jesse Shoaf said. “Our goal at the beginning of the season was to get back to semistate, so we’re really pleased with our whole team effort today.”
Jennings was led by a 19th-place finish from Halle Franks in 20:28.5. Liz Wahlman took 25th in 21:15.6, while Elizabeth Evans was 33rd (21:37.9), Grace Gambrel 35th (21:40.9) and Sarah Poole 57th (23:01.3).
Hauser’s Amanda Steward, who was competing as an individual, finished 70th in 24:19.2.
Meanwhile, in the boys race, Kilbarger-Stumpff took advantage of some cooler weather to run 15:21.4.
“It was a perfect day, honestly,” Kilbarger-Stumpff said. “I like this course because we run it all the time. I think we still have some things to work on for sure for the next couple weeks leading into state, but it was good just to get that title.”
Andy Stohr finished second in 15:40.9 for the Bull Dogs. Evan Carr took fourth in 15:54.7, while Will Kiel was sixth (16:07.7), Matt Newell seventh (16:14.6), Austin Pulkowski eighth (16:15.3) and Collin Pruitt 29th (17:35.9).
“We got a regional title, and I think we’re happy with that,” North boys coach Danny Fisher said. “I think we have a lot more in the tank to give. We were just a little flat and a little off today, and I don’t have an answer for that right at the moment, but I’m still real proud of them for their efforts and their attitudes today.”
Gavin Hendrix led Jennings with a fifth-place finish in 16:08.8. Lane Elsner took 11th in 16:43.0, while Eli Wahlman was 17th (16:55.5), Logan McIntosh 18th (16:55.7) and Brenden Baker 20th (17:05.4).
Chase Austin finished ninth in 16:23.4 to lead Brown County. Rhett Silbaugh took 30th in 17:39.1, while Cord Smith was 40th (18:05.3), Blake Wagler 41st (18:12.2) and Cameron Fox 44th (18:18.9).
East and Hauser had two individuals competing. The Jets’ Ryan Ault finished 43rd in 18:18.3, and Alex Bower took 58th in 18:57.5. The Olympians’ Casey Bartholomew finished 48th in 18:30.6, and Mason Curry was 68th in 19:18.1.
