Columbus North’s Maggie Russell, right, hands off to Ava Collier in the 4x400-meter relay in Tuesday’s Franklin Sectional.
Rob Baker | For The Republic
FRANKLIN — Columbus North put a handful of athletes into next week’s Shelbyville Regional with top-three finishes in their respective events at Tuesday’s Franklin Sectional.
For several other North and Columbus East athletes, they’ll have to play the waiting game after the other three sectionals that feed into the Shelbyville Regional were postponed until Wednesday.
Beyond the top three in each event, which automatically advance to regional, the next-best four times or distances in each event from the four feeder sectionals move on. In most cases, nearly every call-back comes from either the Franklin or Warren Central Sectional.
“That’s the beauty of being in a fast sectional,” East coach Kareem Ash said. “They push them harder.”
While North did not win any events, the Bull Dogs scored in every event and saw both of their entrants place in every event except the shot put, discus and 200 meters. They finished fourth overall as a team with 101 points, trailing Whiteland (156), Center Grove (124) and Franklin (101).
“We had a great night,” North coach Rick Sluder said. “We scored over 100 points, which is really great for us. This is a really tough sectional, so I thought our girls performed just about as well as we could have.”
Junior Carys-Glyn Jones put up times that would win most years, but finished second in the 1,600 (5 minutes, .59-second) behind state cross-country champion Libby Dowty of Indian Creek (4:58.16) and in the 800 (2:13.96) behind Whiteland’s Tori Jackson (2:13.19).
“The competition was amazing, so it was really fun to run with them,” Glyn-Jones said. “I’ve been kind of waiting and sitting on my same times for awhile, and I just really wanted to break them. I’m really happy to see the training finally paying off.”
Jackson and Glyn-Jones both were under the sectional record in the 800 that was set last year by North’s Lily Baker, who now is running at University of Tennessee.
“I actually really enjoy this weather with a little bit of rain,” Glyn-Jones said. “I think I run better in cooler weather. Everyone was complaining about the rain, but I was actually quite happy. I think it’s perfect weather for me personally.”
The Bull Dogs also had runner-up finishes from Emerson Chambers in the 100 hurdles (15.66) and from Tristan Works, Emma Lowther, Maggie Russell and Macy Eaton in the 4×800 relay (9:53.80). Eaton took third in the 3,200 (11:43.54), and Avery Johnson, Hannah Perry, Lillian Ryan and Chambers were third in the 4×100 relay (50.94).
Reece Peeples, Russell, Ava Collier and Glyn-Jones almost assuredly will earn a call-back after their fourth-place finish in the 4×400 relay (4:09.03). Natalie Rohm (49.08) and Lily Miller (49.55) also are good bets after taking fourth and fifth in the 300 hurdles, as is Kyleigh Wolf, who was fifth in the 1,600 (5:18.86). Johnson placed fifth in both the high jump (4-10) and long jump (15-10).
“In the sprints, it’s been awhile since we had five of six qualify in the 100 hurdles, the 100 and the 200,” Sluder said. “We had two girls in the finals of the long jump. We scored in the high jump. We scored in the pole vault. We scored in the throws. Distance ran really well tonight. I thought it was a great night for us, really well-balanced. We just had a great night up and down the lineup. Everybody performed near or better than their seeding coming in.”
East finished seventh with 17 points. The Olympians’ best shot at a call-back likely is in the 4×400 rrelay, where Sophie Glick, Gabbie Meier, Carsyn Schlehuser and Jenna Guse placed fifth (4:13.55).
Meier had East’s top individual finish, taking sixth in the long jump (15-7 1/2).
“For the kind of weather they got handed, they exceeded my expectations and how they competed because we’ve been preparing for weather like this since January,” Ash said. “It was a good day.”
Hauser finished ninth with one point. That point came in the final event, the 4×400 relay, where the all-freshman team of Addison Dailey, Kathryn Price, Abigail Trotter and Kennedy Konradi placed eighth in 4:48.17.
“We didn’t have a lot of people that competed, but we had some that did, and the ones that didn’t came and supported everybody, and we ended on a good note,” Hauser coach Shannon Dailey said. “Our 4×400 team got their (personal record) for the whole season by 4 seconds. That same group of girls in our conference won the 4×800, so it was nice that they got their PR in the 4×400 tonight. They’re proud of themselves.”
Edinburgh’s top finish was a 10th in the 4×100 relay from Kenna Streeval, Kyah Streeval, Shyleigh Goble and Alix Streevbal (58.19).
