Saturday morning’s fall-like temperatures yielded some fast times in both the boys and girls races at Columbus North’s Rick Weinheimer Cross Country Classic.
The host Bull Dogs’ top-ranked boys and third-ranked girls teams swept the Class AA competition, setting numerous personal records in the process.
“It’s our first 5K of the year for our varsity,” North boys coach Danny Fisher said. “Every year, it’s a learning experience. You have to relearn how to run a 5K. I think we have more in the tank for six weeks from now or eight weeks from now, but I was happy with the way the kids competed. We’re showing a lot of progress from the spring and last fall.”
The Bull Dog boys scored 38 points. No. 3 Noblesville finished second with 54, followed by No. 9 Floyd Central with 93, No. 4 Northview with 104 and No. 19 Bloomington North with 144.
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Columbus North’s girls scored 44 points. No. 14 Floyd Central finished second with 68, while No. 10 Bloomington North took third with 82 and No. 25 Northview was fourth with 95.
The Bull Dog boys won despite competing without top runner Matt Newell, who was resting a sore hamstring
“I’m not big on racing somebody that’s not 100 percent, and then maybe the miss a workout the next week or a meet,” Fisher said. “Our workouts right now are more important than our meets.”
Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff led Columbus North with a third-place finish in 15 minutes, 22.1 seconds. Austin Pulkowski took fourth in 15:39.4, while Andy Stohr was eighth (15:49.9), Evan Carr 10th (15:53.1), Collin Pruitt 14th (15:58.3), Will Kiel 19th (16:09.0), Sam Hobbeheydar 28th (16:19.6), Kellen Hottell 31st (16:29.6) and Clayton Guthrie 52nd (17:04.9).
The top eight Bull Dogs ran personal-bests.
“We really relied heavily on Evan Carr and Collin Pruitt to close the door,” Fisher said. “Those are the guys that won the race for us. It would have been a lot closer if they didn’t move well.”
Mackenzie Barnett finished third in 18:27.5 to lead the Bull Dog girls. Jessica Meza took sixth in 18:53.6, while Brianna Newell was ninth (19:04.5), Ellen White 12th (19:12.1), Sydney Morlok 14th (19:16.0), Katherine Rumsey 15th (19:22.3) and Abby Jacobi 16th (19:24.0).
“Jessica ran great, and Mackenzie ran awesome and Bri is coming back from an injury,” Columbus North girls coach Rick Sluder said. “Really, our top three did a great job today, and our 4-5-6-7 are not new to varsity, but they’re new to being in spots to being scorers. Katherine Rumsey and Abby Jacobi and Sydney Morlok and Ellen White really responded wonderfully. The hard work they’ve been putting in since May really showed itself this morning in both races.”
Meanwhile, Columbus East’s girls finished 10th with 269 points. Chloe Krueger led the Olympians with a 29th-place finish in 20:14.7, while Laurel Knight was 38th (20:44.8), Jordan Spurgeon 65th (22:10.7), Olivia Shoaf 71st (22:29.4) and Carly Otte 72nd (22:29.5).
Jennings County finished 13th with 334 points. Halle Franks took 42nd in 20:52.0, while Elizabeth Evans was 52nd (21:16.3), Liz Wahlman 67th (22:21.7), Grace Gambrel 86th (23:23.1) and Kristen Ponder 98th (25:04.0).
The Jennings boys finished eighth with 241 points. Lane Elsner led the Panthers with a 30th-place finish in 16:23.4. Brenden Baker took 36th in 16:39.0, while Logan McIntosh was 57th (17:14.9), Ian Campbell 64th (17:20.1) and Gavin Hendrix 68th (17:25.4).
East’s boys came in 22nd with 653 points, led by a 130th-place finish from Mason Curry in 19:11.1. Casey Bartholomew took 139th in 19:34.3, while Derek Patchett was 149th (20:12.2), Cayden Lynott 156th (20:19.3) and Jesse Schroer 161st (20:36.0).
Brown County’s boys (158 points) and girls (98 points) both finished fourth in the Class A divisions. Oak Hill won the boys division with 32 points, and No. 16 Edgewood took the girls division with 73.
The Eagles’ Chase Austin was the boys A division winner in 16:14.5. Rhett Silbaugh finished 36th in 18:23.2, while Blake Wagler was 43rd (18:33.0), Cameron Fox 44th (18:34.3) and Cord Smith 49th (18:41.6).
Abby Fleetwood and Hadley Gradolf finished third and fourth in 18:47.9 and 19:09.3 to lead the Brown County girls. Emelia Koester took 23rd in 21:18.0, while Emma DeBord was 33rd (22:12.0) and Madalyn Purlee 42nd (22:36.8).
