Columbus North and Columbus East unified track teams were supposed to end their regular seasons with a three-way meet on Tuesday, but Edgewood’s bus breakdown on the way to North, so it turned it into a dual meet.
Bull Dogs coach Nathan VanDeventer said his team is looking forward to possibly making a deep run into the postseason, and it showed in Tuesday’s meet against the Olympians. North won 215-139.
“They’ve performed well all year,” VanDeventer said. “I have a lot of really talented athletes and partners. They’re excited for the post season. They want to make a deep run this year. A lot of kids are talking about trying to get back to state like last year. There is a lot of excitement in the program right now.”
The Bull Dogs took first place in nine of the 10 events, with Bailey Hester winning in the second flight of the long jump at 19 feet, 5 inches and taking the second heat of the 100 meters in 11.7 seconds. Anthony Ashcroft won the first flight of the long jump with a 14-1 leap. Dalton Kirk won the first flight of the shot put with a 38-9 throw, followed by Davin Greenlee’s first place in the second flight (50-5).
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
Josh Holley won the first heat of the 400 in 1:08.8 before Ross Gill took in second heat in 58.2. The boys 4×100 team of Holley, Ashcroft, Gill and Matt Boldrey finished one lap around the track in 55.2. The North girls relay team of Marisol Castaneda, Tanner Johnson, Alana Cook and Liz Tynan won its race in 1:05.3.
“We really come together as one community here,” VanDeventer said. “There is no rivalry with this. It’s really cool to see all the kids, athletes and partners really come together as one whole team. It really makes Columbus and the whole community look really good. It’s something special that these kids will always remember.”
Jacob Brown earned the only first place for the Olympians, winning the first heat of the 100 in 14.1.
Second-place finishes for East came from Ana Centz and Adam Schleuser in the two 400 races. Centz finished the first heat in 1:33.5 while Schleuser finished in 1:01.2. Natalie Glaid led the first flight of the long jump for East by placing third with a 10-0 leap. Larika Lawson also placed third in the second flight at 10-2. Wyatt Romine earned another third place in the second flight of the 400 with a 1:01.7 time.
“It was a great opportunity just to get together and enjoy ourselves and really come together as a unified track experience” East coach Josh Gonsior said. “Everybody is just cheering for each other … That’s what’s good about this. It really does bring teams together and gives us the opportunity to meet other people that are like each other.”
