Columbus North boys runners, from left, Denton Sluder, Graham Pumphrey, Jace Works and Logan Vanzant take the starting line in preparation for Saturday’s Rick Weinheimer Classic at Ceraland.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
Columbus North had a chance to test itself against two of the state’s — and nation’s — other top boys cross-country teams Saturday morning, and the Bull Dogs passed that test with flying colors.
Ranked No. 2 in the state by the coaches and No. 15 nationally by MileSplit, Columbus North put four runners in the top 10 and scored 42 points to upset state No. 1 and national No. 10 Noblesville 42-57 in the Rick Weinheimer Classic at Ceraland. Bloomington North, ranked No. 3 in the state and also nationally ranked, finished third among the 39 overall teams with 75 points.
Senior Denton Sluder finished fourth individually in 14 minutes, 57.22 seconds, tying for the second-best 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) time in school history. Jace Works took seventh in 15:10:49, while Justin Reckers was ninth (15:21.99), Joseph Day 10th (15:22.31), Logan Vanzant 12th (15:32.61), Graham Pumphrey 13th (15:32.73), Sam Steinmetz 16th (15:38.63) and Rohan Norris 23rd (15:48.37).
The Bull Dogs’ 15:16.93 average for their top five runners is the best in school history.
“The guys ran outstanding,” North coach Rick Sluder said. “We had two guys in the top 10 all-time today, and 1-through-8, we just ran ridiculously good, as well as we could have hoped for.”
While Columbus North had a chance to measure itself against the state’s best, other area schools saw where they stacked up against some of the competition they’ll see in the Brown County Sectional. Jennings County (502), Greensburg (514) and Hauser (519) finished 13th, 14th and 15th, while Columbus East (536) and Brown County (553) were 18th and 19th.
Max Rodriguez led Jennings with a 55th-place finish in 16:36.11. Cash Summers took 68th in 16:50.92, while Zachary Walhman was 79th (16:58.02), Dawson Leak 168th (18:16.40) and Elijah Lucas 204th (18:51.30).
Hauser finished third in the Class A division after results were separated between big and small schools. Nolan Dailey took 26th overall in 15:55.12, while Jace Wright was 59th (16:43.60), Max Moore 103rd (17:23.40), Mason Moore 195th (18:43.72) and Braydon McFarland 217th (19:05.30).
“Our top three were really close or bettered our personal records, and our 4 and 5 kind of helped us along, too,” Hauser coach Ben Finke said. “It was a good race, a good test for us, so I’m happy with what we did.”
Columbus East boys runners, in white, wait for the starting gun at Saturday’s Rick Weinheimer Classic at Ceraland.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
Norman Dickson finished 39th in 16:20.02 to lead the Olympians. Elijah Clore took 116th in 17:40.12, while Lorren Westerfeld was 127th (17:46.97), Riley Wilson 134th (17:50.21) and Maddox Hult 201st (16:46.78).
Eddie Webb led Brown County with an 84th-place finish in 17:01.38. Aden Skaggs took 100th in 17:19.02, while Nathan Cumberledge was 105th (17:26.46), Jacob Webb 114th (17:38.05) and Xavier Himebaugh 232nd (19:18.14).
“We had a nice pack there in the 17s,” Brown County coach Rob Abraham said. “Our fifth man is a little bit back right now, but that will get better.”
Columbus North girls runners get last-minute instructions from their coaches before taking the starting line for Saturday’s Rick Weinheimer Classic at Ceraland.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
Meanwhile, Columbus North’s girls finished fourth out of 37 teams. Milford (Ohio) won with 112 points to 119 for No. 13 Floyd Central. No. 16 Noblesville and the No. 12 Bull Dogs each scored 140, but the Millers had the faster sixth runner.
Tristan Works led Columbus North with an 18th-place finish in 19:06.90. Emma Lowther took 22nd in 19:16.97, while Kodi Smith was 24th (19:19.21), Adira Sluder 38th (19:52.69), Ainsley Sherlock 43rd (20:03.49), Rendy Zhong 51st (20:15.46), Wendy Zhong 67th (20:38.25) and Hazel Sasse 97th (21:11.71).
“They ran strong,” Rick Sluder said. “We’ve been training a little harder with the girls because we know we have some ground to make up. So the girls are probably a little tired, and for them to still come out and compete where they did today, that’s awesome, and I’m real excited with that. Tristan ran well up front. We really ran good. We are just a little tired, and we’ll fix that as the season goes.”
Among other teams in the sectional, Jennings County finished 17th with 507 points, while Greensburg was 19th (539), Brown County 27th (700) and Columbus East 33rd (828).
Adistyn Long finished 25th in 19:24.53 to lead Jennings, which was missing No. 2 runner Alana Watts. Shelby Allen took 111th in 21:25.58, while Brianna Phillips was 128th (21:46.33), Addison Otte 145th (22:11.63) and Macey Willhite 149th (22:20.07).
“They ran hard today,” Jennings coach Jill Stoner said. “I’m just really proud of them. They’ve all worked really hard, so it’s been amazing to watch them.”
Ela Robinette led Brown County with a 99th-place finish in 21:15.53. Addie Adams took 104th in 21:21.36, while Sadie Hiatt was 163rd (22:43.66), Izzy Miller 195th (23:17.23) and Della Hitchcock 223rd (23:49.21).
“A vast majority of our kids PR’d today,” Abraham said. “So it was a great day for us. The girls are just a little spread out right now, and if they work a little bit better together during the race, we should be OK.”
Columbus East girls runners, in orange, wait for the starting gun at Saturday’s Rick Weinheimer Classic at Ceraland.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
Ainslee Shaw finished 127th in 21:44.92 to lead the Olympians. Elizabeth Sztaba took 154th in 22:29.87, while Abigail Collins was 201st (23:28.70), Trinity Burns 229th (23:55.63) and Brooke Newell 252nd (24:33.67).
“I was really pleased with how we actually ran today,” East coach Jesse Shoaf said. “We had four or five PRs in the top five girls, so that was really good. Our goal is just to keep improving as we get to tournament time.”
