Columbus North and Jennings County were among the top five schools in both the boys and girls cross-country races in Saturday’s Third Annual Columbus North Classic at Ceraland.
No. 13-ranked Noblesville team was favored to win the field of 17 Class 2A teams, but both North and Jennings both fared better than the fifth-place Millers. The meet results were split into Class A and 2A divisions.
The Bull Dogs’ 73 points were only five behind Bloomington North, which won the Class 2A meet with 68 points, while the Panthers finished third with 93. Columbus East boys placed 14th with 411 points.
Bloomington North, Columbus North and Jennings County runners accounted for four of the top five Class 2A individual runners, with the Cougars claiming first- and fourth-place finishes. the Bull Dogs’ John Sluys finished third in 16 minutes, 4.2 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles), and the Panthers’ Carter Leak in fifth in 16:14.0.
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Columbus North’s Rishi Poludasu placed 12th (16:40.2), while Sam Horak was 15th (16:46.1), Matt Newell 19th (16:49.0), Collin Puitt 24th (17:00.0), Evan Carr 30th (17:08.1) and Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff 37th (17:16.3).
Coach Danny Fisher said the game plan for the Bull Dogs was gain ground during the second part of the race, and they succeeded. Fisher said his team was probably between 20 to 25 points behind Bloomington North halfway through the race before the Bull Dogs started making moves.
“It shows that they’re mature in their racing,” Fisher said. “… These guys, especially our freshmen and sophomores, just seem like they’ve had years of experience already.”
Alex Hendrix earned Jennings other top-10 finish by placing ninth in 16:32.6. Lane Elsner placed 11th (16:36.1), while Gavin Hendrix was 28th (17:07.2), AJ Siener 38th (17:16.6), Drew Stroud 44th (17:37.0) and Jason Gasper 65th (18:10.9).
Jennings coach Bryant Layman said the Panthers have their sights set on the state finals just like all of the other big schools, and Saturday showed they are able to hang.
“We have a young team,” Layman said. “We competed with two great teams in Bloomington North and Columbus North, who are a little bit older than us, a little more experience than us and we’re right there with them.”
Matt Novreske led East with a 75th-place finish in 18:31.4. Nick Walter placed 77th (18:32.8), while Garrett McGaha was 80th (18:39.3), Tyler Hertle 89th (18:58.6), Colby Hertle 90th (19:01.9), Ryan Sadtler 97th (19:30.3) and Nathan Wettschurack 102nd (19:37.5).
East boys head coach Ryan Burke was out of town, but assistant coach Doug Warren said he felt the Olympians ran well.
“There is always room for improvement,” Warren said. “We’ve got a couple of guys that need to figure out how to race, but other than that, I think we did a really good job.”
Meanwhile, Columbus North finished right behind Bloomington North in the girls competition, as well. Franklin Central won the girls meet with 40 points, while the Cougars edged the Bull Dogs 73-74 for second. Jennings finished fifth with 172 points, and East placed ninth with 240.
The Bull Dogs were 18 points behind Bloomington North when they faced the Cougars and Franklin Central last week in Franklin Central’s Dave Bannon Invitational at Shelbville. Columbus North girls coach Rick Sluder said the team feels pretty good about falling just one point short this time.
“Good for us because we still feel like we’re in the heavy part of our season,” Sluder said. “So we’re not even close to taking off yet. (It’s) just giving us confidence that everything is working.”
Columbus North was led by Olivia Morlok’s fifth-place finish in 19:05.4. Mackenzie Barnett placed 12th (19:42.8), while Aric Tong was 14th (19:51.2), Ella Anderson 21st (20:19.9), Emma Smith 23rd (20:26.1), Sydney Geckler 34th (20:58.5) and Abby Jacobi 50th (21:52.0).
Emma Morrison broke her old Jennings school record by 13 seconds to place 10th for the Panthers in 19:37.1. Ashely Heindel, who held the record before Morrison, ran a 20:34.1 for a 26th-place finish. Kaylee Ebinger placed 30th (20:46.1), while Patricia Henney was 45th (21:40.6), Samantha Sproles 61st (22:21.6), Elizabeth Wahlman 72nd (22:49.9) and Heather Sea 78th (23:01.3).
The Panthers had eight girls record personal bests, and girls coach Leah McLeod credits that to the extra work in practice.
“Every day at practice we’re focused and doing more than what we have been in the past. We’re doing a lot more two-a-days,” she said.
East also had personal bests out five of its top seven girls, with Olivia Linneman leading the way. Linneman finished 32nd in 20:47.6.
Jordan Spurgeon was the second Olympian to cross for 43rd-place finish in 21:36.0. Amanda Pottorff placed 49th (21:51.7), while Elizabeth Stevens was 53rd (22:05.9), Olivia Shoaf 63rd (22:32.0), Katie Hagan 74th (22:52.3) and Kaylin DeHart 75th (22:56.5).
“We’re really pleased with our progress at this point in the season,” East girls coach Jesse Shoaf said. “I’m really happy with our freshmen and how they’re developing.”
