Columbus East’s Emma Gray (from left), Columbus North’s Natalie Ho and Columbus East’s Taylor Scott approach the finish line during the 100 meter run during a meet at Columbus East High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Columbus East held its own in the sprints and hurdles Thursday, but Columbus North was dominant in the distance events.
As a result, the third-ranked Bull Dog boys and 10th-ranked North girls cruised to dual meet wins against their crosstown rivals. The Bull Dogs won the boys meet 92-40 and the girls meet 102 1/2-29 1/2.
“East is always going to give us their best shot, and same with us to them,” North boys and girls coach Rick Sluder said. “I was really impressed with our lineup. East has some great athletes on both boys and girls, and we responded really well. Their sprinters took some big points, and our kids fought back and took some pride in competing with them. I’m very proud of our effort tonight all the way around.”
The Bull Dogs did not use their top three boys distance runners, who plan to run in a 3,200-meter showcase tonight at Carmel. But others picked up the slack, sweeping the three places in the 1,600, 800 and 3,200.
North’s Tucker Smith, the defending state champion and state record holder in the shot put, won that event with a throw of 66 feet, 11 inches, and also won the discus at 150-8.
“I had a couple big fouls in each event, and we’ve been training through most of the stuff so far,” Smith said. “I’m pretty happy being able to keep that distance up. The consistency has got up to around 67 to 69 (in the shot), so just like last year, eventually, it will just shoot up.”
Other individual winners for the Bull Dog boys were Liam Phillips in the pole vault (10-6), Bryant Trinkle in the long jump (20-4), Mateo Mendez in the 1,600 (4 minutes, 36.13 seconds), Noah Abfall in the 400 (53.17), Josh Wright in the 300 hurdles (41.90), Sam Hobbeheydar in the 800 (2:07.22) and Clayton Guthrie in the 3,200 (9:56.93). North also swept the 4×800 (9:18), 4×100 (44.06) and 4×400 (3:36.08) relays.
Winners for the Bull Dog girls were Sierra Newell in the pole vault (9-0), Sasha Goodlow in the high jump (4-8), Kylah Lawson in the long jump (16-1 1/2), Moana Steele in the shot (37-0), Lily Baker in the 1,600 (5:05.99), Helen Alderfer in the 400 (1:02.09), Brianna Newell in the 800 (2:19), Natalie Ho in the 200 (27.78) and Julia Kiesler in the 3,200 (11:03.72). North also swept the 4×800 (9:28.52), 4×100 (52.06) and 4×400 (4:15.53) relays.
“Our field event kids did a great job tonight picking up some points,” Sluder said. “Bryant Trinkle in the long jump, and our pole vaulters went 1-2. On the boys side, that was big. Our girls distance and boys distance swept, and that was big for us. I’m very impressed with our group tonight.”
East’s Emma Gray was the star of the girls meet, winning all three of her events. Gray took the 100 hurdles (16.39), 100 (13.01) and 300 hurdles (48.78).
“I’m really tired, but I think it means that I did pretty good and worked as hard as I could,” Gray said. “Hopefully, I keep getting better for (Hoosier Hills Conference) and then for sectional and regional.”
The Olympian girls also got a win from Megan Tracy in the discus (116-6).
“I am absolutely pleased with the girls,” said East assistant coach Alison Kocur, who was filling in for girls head coach Jesse Shoaf. “We knew that we had a challenge coming ahead of us because we know that they’re tough competitors, and the thing that I’m just so proud about is, my girls really stepped up, and they stepped up to be leaders, and we had some good PRs. While we didn’t win every race, we had great efforts. They put their heart and soul into what they did today, and I couldn’t be prouder.”
Ethan Duncan led the Olympian boys with wins in the 100 (11.47) and 200 (23.48). Anthony Lloyd took the high jump (6-0), and Henrique Carvalho captured the 110 hurdles (16.56).
“We competed,” East boys coach Jerone Wood said. “That’s all I ask for my guys is to compete, and give their all. We had some injuries in the meet, which kind of set us back, but as long as we compete, that’s OK with me. We got some PRs, and we have some guys that are improving their times, so as long as we’re improving every meet, we want to make sure that we’re in top peak by sectional.”
