COLUMBUS, Ind. — In Friday’s Republic, we will have the results from Thursday night’s boys track sectional at Columbus North High School, which will feature at least three competitors who are ranked first in the state in their event.
Two Columbus North and one Columbus East athlete are ranked first in the state in an event, and the Bull Dogs are ranked second in two other events. They’ll look for sectional titles when they compete beginning at 5:30 p.m. today.
But even though they have those lofty state rankings in a few events, the fifth-ranked Bull Dogs will enter the sectional as underdogs in the chase for the team title. No. 2 Center Grove, which won the sectional in 2019 after North won the previous year, will be the favorite.
“Our boys team has been trending in the right direction since conference,” North coach Rick Sluder said. “We had a good, but not a great meet at conference, then we ran well at Pike and maybe even better against Franklin. We should be as strong as we’ve been all year. We’re starting to get better in the jumping events and some consistency in the sprints. We’ve been led by our throwers and our distance runners. We’re going to give Center Grove the best run we can.”
Bull Dog juniors Tucker Smith in the shot put and Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff in the 800 meters have state-best performances this season, and Smith’s 69-foot, 7-inch mark in the shot is an all-time state record. Kilbarger-Stumpff also has the second-best time in the 1,600 and is part of North’s 4×800 relay team that ranks second in the state.
Smith also ranks 10th and David Sandusky 18th in the state in the discus. Matt Newell is 10th in the 1,600.
For the sectional, Newell is seeded second in the 1,600 and fourth in the 800. J.J. Montgomery is second in the shot, Austin Pulkowski is second in the 3,200, Marquis Mixon is third in the 100, Alex Narvaez is fourth in the 200 and Evan Carr is fourth in the 3,200. North is seeded fourth in the 4×100 relay.
“We should score pretty well in most events, and we should get a lot of kids through,” Sluder said. “We’re top heavy, and if our second people in each event come through, we could have a full bus going to regional.”
Meanwhile, East senior Crase Bergman is ranked first in the state in the long jump. Bergman also runs on the Olympians’ second-seeded 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams.
Also for East, Anthony Lloyd and Elliott Koopman are tied for the No. 2 seed in the high jump. Mark McDonald is fourth in the long jump, and Charlie Russell is fourth in the 110 hurdles.
“Once we went into tournament time — and we kind of did this in conference with moving Crase around — we’re looking to more take care of our individuals,” East coach Scott Pherson said. “We want to extend the season for as many of the kids as we can.”
The top three in each event automatically qualify for the May 27 Warren Central Regional. Beyond the three automatic qualifiers from each of the four feeder sectional sites to that region, the next-best four performances in each event from the four feeder sectionals are added to give the regional a field of 16 athletes per event.
The Columbus North and East Central Sectional sites, along with Connersville and Warren Central, feed into the Warren Central Regional. Athletes from the Jennings County, Bloomington North, Jeffersonville and Terre Haute North sectional sites feed into the Bloomington North Regional.
“I think we need to show up and do what we need to do and try to advance,” Pherson said. “Our main goal is trying to advance as many people as we can to the next round. I think we’re capable of it. We have great kids. They’re coachable kids, and they’re doing pretty well in a lot of events.”
For coverage of the sectional see Friday’s Republic.
