Columbus North’s Mateo Mendez crosses the finish line in 20th place in the boys race at the IHSAA Cross Country State Finals Saturday, October 29,2022 at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute.
Rob Baker | For The Republic
TERRE HAUTE — Given the health of its top two runners, Columbus North certainly wasn’t taking a podium finish for granted heading into Saturday’s Boys Cross Country State Finals.
So when the Bull Dogs were announced as the fourth-place team, they were ecstatic.
Carmel, which had the top two individuals, edged Zionsville 103-106 to win the team title. Center Grove took third with 143, while North had 157 and Noblesville 166.
“The competition was extremely good this year, so we were going to go based on 100 percent of our effort, and wherever we placed, we were going to be happy with that,” North boys coach Andy Keffaber said. “The effort was there. This is just a nice treat.”
The Bull Dogs landed two runners on the All-State team with top-25 finishes. Senior Mateo Mendez led the way with a 20th-place finish in 15 minutes, 50.0 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
“I had been battling a little injury with my hamstring and just some straining, but just perseverance throughout every practice and just working hard every day, it paid off in the end,” Mendez said. “I knew I could place top 25. It was just a matter of how hard I could finish and where I could finish at.”
This was the first time leading the team for Mendez, who has been North’s No. 3 runner all season.
“It went out a lot faster than I was expecting it, but it played to my favor,” Mendez said. “The race went out very fast in the first K and throughout the race, people just starting dropping off and I finished well. We all raced well as a team.”
Senior Clayton Guthrie, who has been battling a strained calf, was running not far behind the leaders for most of the first half of the race before running into trouble. He finished 24th in 15:55.2.
“I honestly felt really good going into this race,” Guthrie said. “I had taken a couple days of rest leading up to it just to try and get everything under control. I got into the race feeling great, and at 2K I was in good position. I was top-five, where I wanted to be, and then all of a sudden, my leg just started really hurting. I don’t understand why it hurt that bad. But I think I’ll be over it soon. I’m going to have to take a lot more rest than I want, but I think that’s necessary.”
Still, Guthrie was happy to end up where he did.
“Getting All-State is a really big deal, and although I’m bummed about not being where I thought I should be, I still think it’s a really good honor,” Guthrie said. “I’m still very proud of how I did and how the season went in general.”
Also for the Bull Dogs, sophomore Neal White finished 53rd in 16:21.4, senior Will Russell took 58th in 16:24.5 and senior Adler Larson rounded out the scoring with a 78th-place finish in 16:37.1. Sophomore Draven Martinez took 100th in 16:48.6, and senior Kellen Hottell was 120th in 17:02.6.
“Adler, Mateo and Neal really had phenomenal races,” Keffaber said. “They were way ahead of where anybody projected them to finish. It was a mature effort for those two guys. Adler had an outstanding race, and Clayton had a good race, based on what he could do today. We’ve been trying to nurse him through his calf. He’s potentially one of the best guys in the state, and Will Russell had food poisoning last night, so he gave everything he could. Those guys weren’t going to make any excuses. Draven and Kellen had good races today, too.”
Brown County had one individual competing. Senior Chase Austin bettered his performance in last year’s state meet with a 40th-place finish in 16:12.3.
