Columbus North senior Jace Works is The Republic Boys Cross-Country Runner of the Year. He is pictured on the track at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
When Jace Works was a freshman, not only was he not on Columbus North’s cross-country varsity, he wasn’t one of the top JV runners.
But over the past three years, Works saw huge time drops in his 5,000-meter (3.1-mile races). He ended his career third on the Bull Dogs’ all-time leaderboard and is The Republic Boys Cross-Country Runner of the Year.
“I was really proud of how I was able to progress,” Works said. “Freshman cross-country season, I wasn’t one of the fastest guys on there, but I’ve learned to love the sport, and that’s helped me be the most successful I can be. You have to enjoy what you do, and I feel like once you start enjoying it is when you’re going to get good at it.”
Works’ fastest time as a freshman was 18 minutes, 20 seconds. He improved to 16:05 as a sophomore and 15:24 last season.
This fall, Works ran 14:572 in the Nike Valley Twilight meet at Terre Haute’s LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country course, the same venue where he finished eighth in the state in 15:13.9 a month later to lead North to the team title.
“I’m really happy with how my senior season turned out,” Works said. “Obviously at the end of last year, I had that good performance at the state meet, but I think just the consistency I was able to have this year with all my performances, last year, I had to deal with a little bit of sickness and my times kind of fluctuated a little bit, but I feel like this year has been a really good training block, and I consistently hit a high mark, which I’m really proud of.”
Works had finished 15th at state as a junior to lead the Bull Dogs to a second consecutive sixth-place team finish, one spot off the awards podium.
“We’ve gone the past few years and missed (the podium) by a small margin, so it was really special to come back senior year and get that state title and kind of break that little curse we that had going for sixth place,” Works said. “To do it senior year, and have the season that we did was just really cool, and I’m very glad to be a part of it.”
“He achieved all the goals we were setting out for,” North coach Rick Sluder added. “It’s really hard in cross-country to predict what’s going to happen at the end of the year, but he worked his rear end off all year. It was really important he put in all that work just to get every ounce of it he could, and he sure did.”
Sluder also pointed to Works as one of the leaders of the title-winning team.
“I’m not necessarily the most verbal leader,” Works said. “I feel like I lead by example, so I just try to set a good example for the rest of the guys and I feel like that’s something that they picked up on, the work ethic that we have on the team and just the drive that we want to be the best we can be.”
Last week, Works committed to continue his running career at Purdue. He also had visited Cincinnati, Indiana State, Michigan and Michigan State before taking a visit to the West Lafayette campus two days after the state meet.
“I went on five visits to different schools, and I definitely enjoyed the bigger-school atmosphere, so the Big Ten schools, I really liked those,” Works said. “For Purdue, the team only has like 10 guys, so the coach gets to know you, and you get a lot of attention from them. Then, the closeness to home was a big factor, as well.”
Works and his teammates have been training for Saturday’s Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon. After that, they’ll take a short break from heavy training before getting ready for track season.
This spring, Works was named The Republic Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year after finishing second in the state in the 800 meters and anchoring North’s state runner-up 4×800 relay team.
“I know our 4×800 is going to be good again this year, and then me and my coach will have a decision to make on whether we want to do the 800 again this year or the mile,” Works said. “The triple is always there — 4×800, mile and 800 — but that’s just a really tough triple, so we’ll have to see how the season progresses and choose what’s best.”
Works began running in the Trailblazers elementary program and ran at Northside Middle School before arriving at North.
“Running more consistently is obviously a big thing, and I feel like you have to trust in what you’re doing because if you come out here every day and are like, ‘This sucks, and this doesn’t work,’ then you’re not going to get anything out of it,” Works said. “So I think your mentality is a big part of it just as much as your physical abilities.”
The Republic All-Area team:
Jace Works, Columbus North: The senior won the sectional and finished fifth in the regional and eighth at state.
Denton Sluder, Columbus North: The senior finished fourth in the sectional, eighth in the regional and 13th at state.
Justin Reckers, Columbus North: The junior finished second in the sectional, sixth in the regional and 17th at state.
Joseph Day, Columbus North: The sophomore finished third in the sectional, ninth in the regional and 22nd at state.
Graham Pumphrey, Columbus North: The junior finished seventh in the sectional, 11th in the regional and 33rd at state.
Sam Steinmetz, Columbus North: The senior finished eighth in the sectional, 15th in the regional and 65th at state.
Logan Vanzant, Columbus North: The senior finished sixth in the sectional, 37th in the regional and 75th at state.
Nolan Dailey, Hauser: The senior finished ninth in the sectional, 16th in the regional and 121st at state.
Jace Wright, Hauser: The freshman finished 13th in the sectional and 38th in the regional.
Norman Dickson, Columbus East: The sophomore finished 11th in the sectional and 45th in the regional.
Honorable mention
Brown County: Nathan Cumberledge, Aden Skaggs, Eddie Webb, Jacob Webb. Columbus East: Elijah Clore, Riley Wilson. Columbus North: Rohan Norris. Hauser: Maxton Moore. Jennings County: Maxwell Rodriguez, Cash Summers, Zachary Wahlman. Trinity Lutheran: Oliver Eggersman.
