Staff Reports
Columbus North’s boys and girls broke four-year conference title droughts, and Hauser’s boys broke a 10-year drought when they ran to conference cross-country titles on Saturday morning.
Led by runner-up individual finishes from siblings Matt and Brianna Newell, North’s sixth-ranked boys and fifth-ranked girls claimed Conference Indiana titles for the first time since 2015 at Terre Haute’s LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, site of the state finals. The Hauser boys, led by a runner-up finish from Ryan Ault, captured their first Mid-Hoosier Conference crown since 2009 at Blue River Park in Shelbyville.
“It’s always great to win conference,” North boys coach Danny Fisher said. “It’s one of our steppingstones for the season. It’s a privilege to watch the guys run after working so hard all season.”
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The Bull Dog boys got off to a slow start. No. 8 Bloomington South had eight runners ahead of North’s second runner in the early stages of the race and still led the Bull Dogs at the 4K mark in the 5K (3.1-mile) race before North rallied to score 46 points to 52 for the Panthers and 93 for No. 13 Bloomington North.
Matt Newell finished second in 16:13. Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff returned from a foot injury to finish sixth in 16:38, and Austin Pulkowski took 11th in 16:48 to join them on the All-Conference team.
Collin Pruitt came in 13th in 16:51 for the Bull Dogs. Evan Carr took 14th in 16:53, while Andy Stohr was 16th (16:59) and Will Kiel 22nd (17:15).
“We got punched in the mouth, and our guys recovered and made decisions on their own and adjusted well,” Fisher said. “I’m glad to see that kind of maturity and wisdom take over in them. Our race plan kind of helped out today, and having Reese back helped us out.”
The Columbus North girls put six runners on the All-Conference team. The Bull Dogs scored 31 points to 43 for No. 6 Bloomington North and 64 for No. 13 Bloomington South.
Brianna Newell finished second in 19:36, while Olivia Morlok was fourth (19:51), Mackenzie Barnett sixth (19:56), Lily Baker eighth (20:04), Aric Tong 11th (20:14) and Jessica Meza 12th (20:17). Kennedy Kerber took 17th in 20:31.
“That feels really good for us to have that kind of depth,” North girls coach Rick Sluder said. “We really ran strong all the way through. Everybody had a great day and improved a little bit.”
Meanwhile at Shelbyville, the Hauser boys scored 49 points to 65 for runner-up South Decatur and 69 for Waldron. Edinburgh finished seventh with 188.
Ryan Ault finished second in 17:52.12. Also for the Jets, Noah Estes took sixth in 19:38.17, while Alex Bower was 11th (20:31.33), Tanner Ault 14th (21:17.03) and Cameron Toole 16th (21:23.89).
“We talked with the runners about who they needed to match with, and we talked about running for place and competing for place today,” Hauser coach Ben Finke said. “They ran smart races. They ran not just with their head, but with their heart. It was a solid team effort top to bottom.”
Trevor Newby led the Cougars with a fifth-place finish in 19:06.98. Nick Keppel took eighth in 19:57.44, while Logan Platt was 15th (21:20.84), Jack Hamilton 17th (21:24.10) and Chase Kalli 20th (21:38.27).
Parker Young finished 32nd in 24:31.57 to lead the Lancers. Landen Burton and Bryce Abbett took 41st and 42nd in 26:05.47 and 26:05.75, while Bryce Jett and Devyn Milburn were 46th and 47th in 34:09.28 and 35:27.57.
South Decatur’s girls finished third in the MHC with 57 points, trailing the 30 from Southwestern (Shelby) and 35 from North Decatur. Sierra Kalli finished second in 22:44.81 for the Cougars, while Ali Boilanger and Claire Hamilton took 14th and 15th in 26:49.49 and 26:58.69, Abigail Collins was 17th (27:31.55) and Addison Baltus 20th (28:36.11).
Hauser and Edinburgh each had three girls runners, two short of the number needed to score as a team. For the Jets, Kaitlyn Everroad finished 19th (27:43.43), Addison Jones 21st (29:19.04) and Lexi tallent 31st (33:42.48). The Lancers’ Alyssa Funkhouser was 28th (32:24.68), Hannah Pile 29th (32:42.46) and Cloee Britton 30th (33:40.48).
