Columbus North established itself as the top boys cross-country team in Indiana with a dominating regular season and state meet performance.
Sunday afternoon, on the same LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, members of the Bull Dogs’ championship team will go up against some of the top teams in the country.
North, which is ranked No. 2 in the nation in this week’s MileSplit rankings, will get a chance to go up against No. 1 Newbury Park from Thousand Oaks, California, and some of the other top teams from around the country in the inaugural National Athletic Scholastic Foundation XC Town USA Meet of Champions. The meet was formed after Nike Cross Nationals, the unofficial national championship, canceled its in-person race because of COVID-19.
“The state title was the big thing that we wanted, obviously,” North boys coach Danny Fisher said. “But they’re definitely excited to take on the nation’s best and make themselves a national-level team year-in-and-year-out.”
Since most high school state associations do not permit their teams from competing as high schools in post-state championship meets, those teams, including North and Newbury Park, are competing as club teams.
Although club teams can have athletes from multiple schools, both Fisher and Newbury Park coach Sean Brosnan, whose California high school season was postponed until winter, confirmed that only runners from their high schools will compete for their teams.
The top roughly 30 boys and girls teams in the country were invited to compete in the High School Championship races. North’s girls will compete in the High School Championship race at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, followed by the Bull Dog boys in the High School Championship race at 3:15 p.m.
Among the other top boys teams in the field will be Severna Park XC Club from Maryland, South Temecula TC from Great Oak, California, and Stumptown Running from Jesuit, Oregon. Top girls squads include state champion Carmel, along with Cherry Creek XC Club from Colorado, Naperville (North) XC Club from Illinois, Edina XC Club from Minnesota and Loudoun Valley XC Club from Virginia.
The North boys team will be a little short-handed. Junior Matt Newell, a two-time All-State runner who returned from a hamstring injury to finish 23rd at this year’s state meet, will not compete. Sophomore Sam Hobbeheydar will replace Newell in the lineup, joining juniors Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff, Evan Carr and Will Kiel and seniors Austin Pulkowski, Andy Stohr and Collin Pruitt.
“We’re going to celebrate our season,” Fisher said. “It will be fun. They’ve been in this position a lot of times, and they’ll do great.”
Meanwhile, North’s girls, who are listed among the teams “on the bubble” in the MileSplit rankings, also received an invitation. The Bull Dogs finished third in the state meet.
“It’s kind of an honor for us, and it’s a great reward for their hard work over the last two years,” North girls coach Rick Sluder said. “There’s not many teams in the country that have six girls under 19 minutes.”
The Bull Dogs are led by senior Mackenzie Barnett. The supporting cast includes sophomores Lily Baker, Ellen White, Brianna Newell, Jessica Meza and Julie Klaus and juniors Abby Jacobi and Katherine Rumsey.
“I’m very impressed with those girls,” Sluder said. “For us having six sophomores on the varsity, it’s kind of a springboard to maybe a top 10 performance or even higher next year. That’s a neat thing for them to hopefully put us in the national rankings with most of those as sophomores and have two more years to leave a nice legacy for that group.”
Unfortunately for Fisher and Sluder, they won’t be able to coach their teams at the meet since the IHSAA prohibits coaches from coaching their teams on Sundays.
Sunday’s event will begin with a boys middle school race at 10 a.m., followed by boys and girls freshmen at 10:45 a.m., girls blue and girls white at 11:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., boys blue and boys white at 1 and 1:45 p.m. and the girls and boys championship races.
Admission is $5, with children 10 and under free, and fans must wear face coverings at all times inside the LaVern Gibson facility and are expected to social distance. The event will be livestreamed at https://xc-town-usa-meet-of-champions.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=14147&do=videos&video_id=300686
Although they won’t be able to coach, both Sluder and Fisher plan to attend the meet to watch their runners.
“It will be tougher on myself than the boys,” Fisher said. “But these boys know what to do at this point. You want these boys by the time their seniors, to explain the workout to them, and they know how to do it. We have great leadership this year with Collin Pruitt and Andy Stohr and Austin Pulkowski. I think the biggest drawback is just that I miss being with the boys.”
