MALE
Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff // Columbus North junior cross-country runner
Kilbarger-Stumpff ran 15 minutes, 33.5 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) Saturday to win the Conference Indiana meet and lead the Bull Dogs to the team title.
His performance last week: “I was pretty happy with it. The plan going into it was to try to win both individually and as a team, and we did that. I was going to try to go a little faster and pull Andy (Stohr) and Austin (Pulkowski) to faster times. I’m happy I got the win for the first time. That was cool.”
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Do you do anything special to prepare? “If it weren’t for COVID, the night before, we get together as a team and have a pasta dinner. We haven’t been able to do that, so the night before, we just try to keep it as low key as possible until we need to be on for the race.”
Favorite drink: “Chocolate milk”
Favorite food: “Stirfry from Thai Connection”
Favorite class: “Computer Science”
Favorite sports team: “Brooks Beasts, a pro running group that I’m a fan of.”
Favorite athlete: “Josh Kerr and Noah Lyles”
Role model: “My parents (Alan Kilbarger and Julia Stumpff) and coach (Danny) Fisher and coach K (Andrew Keffaber).”
Best advice: “Try to surround yourself with or try to emulate people who are successful. If you emulate them, that will lead you to be successful.”
Athletics goal: “I’d love for us to go to nationals as a team, but the team nationals was canceled this year. Under 15 minutes in the 5K is always a goal I’ve had.”
If you could travel anywhere: “Uganda would be cool or British Columbia or the Great Rift Valley area in Africa.”
FEMALE
Mackenzie Barnett // Columbus North senior cross-country runner
Barnett ran a personal-best 18 minutes, 10.0 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) to win Saturday’s Conference Indiana race and lead the Bull Dogs to the team title.
Her performance last week: “I was happy with my performance and especially about my team’s performance. We all worked well together, and we were excited about the conference title.”
Do you do anything special to prepare? “I always eat the same dinner the night before the meet and the same breakfast the morning of the meet.”
Favorite drink: “Water”
Favorite food: “Steak”
Favorite class: “Math”
Favorite sports team: “Chicago Cubs”
Favorite athlete: “Shalane Flanagan”
Role model: “My parents (Brett and Michelle Barnett).”
Best advice: “My dad always tells me to just trust God.”
Athletics goal: “This year, I want to be in the top 15 in the state finals, and then I want to run in college next year.”
If you could travel anywhere: “I’ve been to Colorado, and I’d like to go back.”
