Columbus North’s fifth-ranked girls and sixth-ranked boys teams showed some promise of what might be to come later in the season when they kicked off the outdoor track and field season Wednesday night against Bloomington South.
Although official results and team scores were unavailable at press time, the Bull Dogs had accumulated enough points to win both the boys and girls meets.
“Bloomington South is always a tough team, and it was the same tonight, so for us to compete that well, that’s a good start for us this year,” North coach Rick Sluder said. “How we competed was really strong and really deep. There were a few events where we went 1-2-3, so it was very exciting to see that.”
Tucker Smith, the defending state champion and state record holder and this year’s state indoor champion in the shot put, began his title defense with a throw of 66 feet, 10 1/2 inches. He also won the discus with a throw of 152 feet.
“It was all right,” Smith said. “The first meet of the year, I started off a little slow, but if I keep working on technique, I’ll get better. I got stronger (since last season) and should be able to throw farther.”
Other winners for the Bull Dog boys were Liam Phillips in the pole vault (11-6), Alex Narvaez in the 100 meters (11.77 seconds), Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff in the 1,600 (4:17.40), Matt Newell in the 800 and Mateo Mendez in the 3,200. North also won the 4×800 relay in 8:54.84.
The girls were led by three double winners. Moana Steele took the shot and discus, Sasha Goodlow captured the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles (51.04) and Natalie Ho won the 100 and 200 (27.86). Other winners were Emma Long in the high jump (4-8), Sierra Newell in the long jump (15-10), Lily Baker in the 1,600 and Helen Alderfer in the 400 (1:03.07).
Julie Klaus and Brianna Newell tied for first in the 800, and Katherine Rumsey and Julia Kiesler tied for first in the 3,200. The Bull Dogs also won the 4×800 (10:30.80) and 4×100 (52.14) relays.
“Just watching how we competed against Bloomington South was really good,” Sluder said. “Some of the results I did see were outstanding. It was a great start for us.”
North is scheduled to host its invitational on Saturday. Columbus East will be among the other teams participating. Action is set to begin at 11 a.m.
