The Columbus North boys cross-country team finished eighth in Saturday’s Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon. Team members are, from left, Denton Sluder, Graham Pumphrey, Sam Steinmetz, Logan Vanzant, Joseph Day, Justin Reckers and Jace Works.
Submitted photo
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Columbus North boys finished eighth against the nation’s best teams in Saturday’s Nike Cross Nationals meet.
The Bull Dogs finished with 269 points. Niwot (Colorado) won with 67 points.
Jace Works led North with a 60th-place finish in 16 minutes, 1.9 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles). Denton Sluder took 91st in 16:22.3, and Justin Reckers was 97th in 16:25.2.
Also for the Bull Dogs, Sam Steinmetz finished 106th in 16:27.7, and Joseph Day took 118th in 16:32.9. Logan Vanzant finished 155th in 16:55.2, and Graham Pumphrey was 167th in 17:10.3.
“Eighth was about where we thought we could be, and we nailed it,” North coach Rick Sluder said. “Our guys ran well. We were a little tired from the trip. But we finished sixth in the state last year and eighth in the nation this year, so that was really good.”
