MARTINSVILLE — The Columbus North boys and girls track teams got a chance to join as one on Friday in the Koontz Relays at Martinsville.
The Koontz Relays was created in 1997 to honor former Artesians coach John Koontz, who died in 1995. It’s an unorthodox meet that includes two boys and two girls on each relay team.
The Bull Dogs placed second with 166 points behind Center Grove’s 180. Martinsville finished third with 51 points.
“I wasn’t here for coach Koontz. I didn’t get to know him personally,” North coach Lou Sipe said. “But just for (Martinsville coach) Carl Wagner and what he’s continued to do to keep this thing going to honor him, it’s a really good thing.”
A few good things happened for the Bull Dogs on the track, as well. They placed first in four events and had 11 second-place finishes.
The discus team of Logan Abbott, Eli Heichelbech, Marie Harrison and Emma Wetherald placed first with a combined throw of 375 feet, two inches. The 4×1600-meter relay team of Olivia Morlok, Arig Tong, Rishi Poludasu and Sam Horak won in 21 minutes, 18.0 seconds. Mackenzie Barnett, Morlok, Peyton Shelton and Drew Thompson won the 4×1200 relay in 15:17.8.
The other first-place finish came in the Artesian relay, which consists of an 800, 400, and two 200 legs. Tong ran the 800, followed by Damon Hunter Jr. in the 400 and Preston Terrell and Kennedy Cook on the 200 legs. They combined to finish in 15:17.8.
North got second place finishes out of its long jump, high jump, 4×1600 relay and shuttle hurdle relay teams. The Bull Dogs also placed second in the Martinsville medley, which includes a boys 800 leg, followed by a girls 400 and a boys and a girls 200 leg.
North also placed second in the 4×200, 4×800 and the throwers relay, as well as the sprint medley, which consisted of a girls 100, boys 100, boys 200 and girls 400. Teams could have elected to have a boys 100, girls 100, boys 200 and girls 400. The Bull Dogs went with the first option.
“With the relays, it’s hard to get a gauge, but I thought combining the boys and girls is obviously fun for them to do,” Sipe said. “I thought we saw some good things. Obviously, there are some things that we need to continue to work on and get better as we move closer to the sectional.”
