Athletes of the Week

Brianna Newell

MALE

Matt Newell
Matt Newell

Matt Newell // Columbus North junior track athlete

Newell won the 800 meters in 2 minutes, .45-second and ran on the winning 4×800 relay team that ran 8:06.14 Friday to help the Bull Dogs to a third-place team finish in the Pike Invitational.

His performance last week: “I feel pretty happy about it. I try to race for the team and try to race to win. I feel like it was an overall good meet because I accomplished those goals.”

Do you do anything special to prepare? “I always try to mentally prepare for a race and plan out how I feel like the race will go.”

Favorite drink: “Water. I drink water with everything I eat and try to drink as much of it as I can every day.”

Favorite food: “Anything to do with chicken.”

Favorite class: “U.S. History”

Favorite sports team: “Houston Rockets”

Favorite athlete: “Jeremy Lin”

Role model: “My parents (Dan and Christina Newell)”

Best advice: “Do your best, and forget the rest.”

Athletics goal: “I’d like to try to win the state his year in the (1,600).”

If you could travel anywhere: “I’d probably just stay here, honestly. I like Indiana a lot.”

FEMALE

Brianna Newell
Brianna Newell

Brianna Newell // Columbus North sophomore track athlete

Newell won the 1,600 meters in 5:20.21 and ran on the 4×800 relay team that won in a school-record 9:18.77 Friday in helping the Bull Dogs to a runner-up team finish in the Pike Invitational.

Her performance last week: “I’m happy with my 800 because it was a PR, and the 1,600, I’m happy with it because it was windy, and we went out slow, but I was still able to negative-split that last 800.”

Do you do anything special to prepare? “It’s on a school day, I’ll just wear sweatpants and a t-shirt to stay comfortable. This last meet, I had oatmeal crisp cereal, so I might start doing that.”

Favorite drink: “Mile or chocolate milk or lemonade”

Favorite food: “I love spaghetti.”

Favorite class: “I like my math and English classes because of the people in it.”

Favorite sports team: “U.S. Olympic team”

Favorite athlete: “Sydney McLaughlin”

Role model: “My parents (Dan and Christina Newell)”

Best advice: “If you did your best that you could do in a race or a workout, then you can’t beat yourself up about it. Don’t let disappointment keep you from showing up and doing your best again.”

Athletics goal: “I want to go sub-5 in the mile and get a 17:22 5K (in cross-country) by my senior year.”

If you could travel anywhere: “Probably Colorado because I want to ski really badly.”