NASHVILLE — Columbus North boys cross-country coach Danny Fisher and girls coach Rick Sluder took different approaches to Saturday’s Brown County Sectional.
The results were the same.
North’s ninth-ranked boys and third-ranked girls both cruised to victories at Eagle Park. The Brown County and Columbus East boys and girls teams also advanced to the North Regional with top-five finishes.
The Bull Dog boys won despite using mostly junior varsity runners. They outscored runner-up Seymour 35-55.
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“The varsity guys are over in the (Brown County State) park getting some hill reps in,” North boys coach Danny Fisher said. “We feel like that’s what’s best for them this time of year for where they want to be in two or three weeks at semistate and state. We had some guys on the seven that ran today that just needed to see some adversity and perseverance after the hard training we’ve had.”
The only one of the Bull Dogs’ top runners to compete Saturday was sophomore Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff. He won the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) boys race in 16 minutes, 18.98 seconds.
“I missed a couple of races in the beginning of the season because of injuries, so coming back, it was a good opportunity to come back and see what I could do,” Kilbarger-Stumpff said. “I opened up how I wanted to, but it’s a boring way to run a race. I could have pushed myself a little harder in the later stages, but overall, I’m pretty happy.”
North’s Carson Littrell and Sam Hobbeheydar finished sixth and seventh in 16:51.38 and 16:54.92. Jacob Strieitelmeier and Gabe Wills were 10th and 11th in 17:11.36 and 17:12.07.
Brown County finished fourth with 119 points, seven behind White River Valley and six ahead of East. Chase Austin was the runner-un in 16:30.81, while Rafe Silbaugh was 21st (17:38.96), Cameron Fox 27th (18:12.48), Waylon Patrick 29th (18:13.74) and Rhett Silbaugh 40th (18:58.31).
“Most of the kids ended up running (personal records) today,” Brown County coach Rob Abraham said. “That’s exactly what you want to do at the end of the season.”
Nick Walter led the Olympians with an eighth-place finish in 16:56.65. Tyler Hertle took 23rd in 17:46.67, while Colby Hertle was 25th (17:58.43), Ryan Sadtler 31st (18:15.85) and Matthew Novreske 38th (18:52.58).
“We had a very good team race today,” East boys coach Ryan Burke said. “We felt we had a shot at third, and we were fairly close to that. Next week, I think we’ll have a chance to move up a few spots from where we were today.”
Hauser finished eighth with 232 points. Ryan Ault qualified for regional as an individual with an 18th-place finish in 17:36.38. Alex Bower took 46th in 19:24.10, while Cameron Toole was 51st (20:11.53), Tanner Ault 57th (23:00.09) and Aiden Cheshire 65th (27:59.65).
“We had a couple (personal records), which is a good way to finish out the season,” Hauser coach Ben Finke said. “We can come back here next year and be better.”
Trinity Lutheran had two boys runners. Jordan Peters finished 58th in 23:22.26, and Evan Hunt was 60th in 24:34.11.
Edinburgh’s Parker Young, Landen Burton and Bryce Abbett took 62nd, 63rd, 64th in 26:13.39, 26:27.66 and 26:29.46.
In the girls race, meanwhile, all seven North runners were at the front of the pack for the first half of the race, and the Bull Dogs claimed the top four and five of the top six spots to finish with 16 points.
“We wanted to run as a pack and kind of run a specific pace,” North girls coach Rick Sluder said. “It was a little faster than I thought it would be, but that was our goal — to run as a big group and see how long we could keep it together — and they did a really strong job of that.”
The top three Bull Dogs finished side by side and had to be separated by a photo finish. Freshman Brianna Newell was awarded first place in 19:08, followed by Mackenzie Barnett in 19:08.75 and Olivia Morlok in 19:09.21.
“That was our plan this whole week — stick together as long as we can and learn how to race in big packs, so when the bigger races come, we can finish as close together as possible,” Morlok said. “It was exciting that we were all able to be that close together.”
North’s Lily Baker finished fourth in 19:15.18. Jessica Meza was sixth in 19:32.47.
Brown County edged Seymour 74-75 for second, giving the Eagles their best-ever sectional finish. Hadley Gradolf took eighth in 19:43.47, while Emelia Koester was 11th (20:31.38), Anna Fleetwood 12th (20:37.41), Emma DeBord 17th (20:46.96) and Maris Wyman 26th (22:24.84).
“The girls rebounded very nicely,” Abraham said. “We have only five running right now, and to come in sectional runner-up is the best placing that we’ve ever had. They just keep on rolling.”
East, which is without injured No. 1 runner Olivia Linnemann, finished fourth with 102 points. Chloe Krueger took 13th in 20:38.63, while Laurel Knight was 15th (20:46.01), Olivia Shoaf 19th (21:26.76), Elizabeth Stevens 22nd (21:45.23) and Jordan Spurgeon 33rd (22:52.63).
“(Fourth is) where we thought we’d be,” East girls coach Jesse Shoaf said. “I was really proud of our top three (individuals) that placed on the podium today, and then our fourth runner, Elizabeth Stevens, just had a really great race for us, probably her season best, and that contributed to us getting that fourth spot.”
Hauser and Edinburgh each had three girls runners, and Trinity had two finishers. For the Jets’ Addison Jones took 48th in 26:27.68, while Kaitlynn Everroad was 54th (27:55.98) and Lexi Tallent 61st (35:25.43).
The Lancers’ Hannah Pile, Ciera Myers and Cloee Britton finished 58th, 59th and 60th in 34:25.89, 34:27.72 and 34:42.50. Trinity’s Sadie Nay took 45th in 24:53.88, and Abby Hildreth was 55th in 29:20.47.
