Columbus North’s Owen Russell, left, Center Grove’s Parker Doyle, North’s Liam Milne and Columbus East’s Henrique Carvalho race in the 110-meter hurdles final during the sectional at Columbus North, Thursday, May 18, 2023.
Paige Grider | For The Republic
All season long, Columbus North has been a distance-heavy boys track and field team.
Thursday night, the Bull Dogs got plenty of help from the other areas of the team, and as a result, landed a runner-up finish in the North Sectional. Center Grove won with 205 points to 114 1/2 for North.
“We did really well in all areas,” North coach Rick Sluder said. “Our sprints did a very good job. Our hurdle kids really ran well, and most of them are younger. Our field event kids pulled through. We had some really good performances in our field events, and then our distance kids were pretty lights out again.”
The Bull Dogs won three distance events. Will Russell, Akot Tong, Adler Larson and Mateo Mendez took the opening 4×800-meter relay in 7 minutes, 57.45 seconds. Russell also won the 1,600 (4:21.30) and finished third in the 3,200 (9:42.41).
“I’m happy with it,” Russell said. “The 1,600, Adler and I both had a plan coming into it, but the thing we were going to do kind of got messed up a little bit. Then, I just wanted to go out and race as hard as I could. For the 4×800, we just wanted to go for a fast time, and I think we were able to achieve that.”
Mendez came back to capture the 800 in 1:58.79. Ben Stevens, Derek Arau-Ortiz, Tong and Mendez capped the meet by finishing second in the 4×800 relay (3:29.26).
“It was a great night,” Mendez said. “We prepped well. We had good workouts. We made sure we ate well, drank well. We have to stay consistent now for regional, but I think we had a great race today in the 4×800 and then the 800 was good. I took it out pretty conservative, and then finished well. Then, 4×400, we got second, which is good.”
Several other North athletes earned automatic berths to Thursday’s Greenfield-Central Regional with top-three finishes. Neal White took second in the 3,200 (9:35.11), and Liam Milne was second (15.50) and Owen Russell third (15.70) in the 110 hurdles. Also placing third were Liam Phillips third in the pole vault (13 feet), Jason Knapp in the high jump (6-0), Andrew McLean in the discus (143-8) and Tong in the 800 (2:00.69).
Beyond the top three in each event, the next-best four performances in each event from the four feeder sectionals to the regional earn call-backs. In position for the Bull Dogs are Owen Russell, who finished fourth in the 300 hurdles (40.72); along with Drew Schiefer, who took fifth in the shot put (47-1), Larson; who was sixth in the 1,600 (4:35.20); Ben Stevens, who finished sixth in the 400 (52.91); and the fourth-place 4×100 relay team (43.98).
Columbus East edged Hauser 21-20 for seventh and eighth place. The Jets earned an automatic regional berth with Lakota Robbins’ second-place finish in the long jump (20-5 3/4). Cameron Toole is in position for a callback after a fourth in the 400 (51.86) and sixth in the long jump (19-3 1/2).
The Olympians didn’t have any automatic qualifiers and will await potential call-backs. Henrique Carvalho finished fifth in the 110 hurdles (16.41) and 300 hurdles (41.13), Ethan Duncan took fifth in the 400 (52.50), Jacob Guse was sixth in the discus (138-6) and East finished sixth in the 4×400 relay (3:34.48).
“We competed,” East coach Jerone Wood said. “Of course, we’d like a better result, but our guys came out and competed, and we’re happy with that.”
