The Columbus North boys cross-country team has spent the past two seasons ranked No. 1 in the state.
This week, the Bull Dog girls have joined their boys conunterparts atop the Indiana Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches poll. Both teams enter today’s Brown County Sectional with that target on their backs.
“It’s great,” North girls coach Rick Sluder said. “The girls have earned it, and that part is kind of fun and neat to be ranked No. 1 in the state again, but I think more than anything, they’re just focused on that one round at a time. We talked about if for all of about five seconds. It’s fun, and it’s neat, but our mission starts (today) in terms of the tournament.”
Both Bull Dog squads finished the regular season last week by beating some of the state’s other highly-ranked teams in the Elite race at the Nike Valley Twilight on the same LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute that hosts the state meet.
“It’s been a great season,” North boys coach Danny Fisher said. “I think everybody seeks the finished product of us being ranked No. 1 and winning Twilight and all the other meets we’ve been in this year, but that’s a product of keeping everybody healthy. We can’t win races or compete at our highest if we’re not consistent in our training and doing the little things right, so hats’ off to the boys for doing the little things outside of practice that keeps everyone healthy.”
The only time the Bull Dog boys haven’t won a meet this year came early in the season when Fisher split his squads, sending some of his top runners to the Zionsville Invitational and the other part to a quad meet at Brownsburg.
“We’re running great,” Fisher said. “We’re having fun in practice and just enjoying ourselves. The season is starting to wind down a little bit, so we’re just trying to make sure their tanks are full coming to practice and being with their teammates.”
It’s been the same way with the girls. Their only loss came against then-No. 1 Carmel in the Brown County Invitational, a defeat the Bull Dogs avenged last week in Terre Haute.
“We’re still working hard,” Sluder said. “I think some of our girls are a little tired, because we’re still putting in our training. For them to run that well with a little bit of tiredness in their legs, we were really excited with that. The great thing is, we don’t feel like we were at 100 percent. We feel like they were still some more to give.”
With both the boys and girls teams having considerable depth and with them being the only ranked teams in the sectional, both Fisher and Sluder plan to rest some of their top runners today at Eagle Park.
The North girls won the Shelbyville Invitational despite resting the top seven runners. Then, last week, beyond the top eight that ran in the Elite race, the next group ran in the varsity race and finished third.
“We might mix it up some,” Sluder said. “We’re looking at some of our health right now. There’s some colds going around the school.”
Fisher rested his entire top seven in last year’s sectional, and Seymour slid past the Bull Dogs to win the boys sectional title. With its full lineup back, North went onto win the regional, semistate and state.
“We definitely aren’t running our top six (today),” Fisher said. “After that, we have some questions for 7, 8, 9. I see it as giving that next group an opportunity because a lot of people in our top six or seven this year were in that seat last year, so it’s good for them to get this experience, and they deserve to race just as much as the others.”
Meanwhile, Columbus East’s girls will be aiming for the runner-up spot, and the Olympian boys will be vying for a top-five finish that would send them to next week’s North Regional at Ceraland.
“We’re looking forward to just every girl kind of doing their best,” East girls coach Jesse Shoaf said. “We’ve been training, getting ready for this point in the season, so hopefully, we’ll perform like we should. I think we’re peaking at the right time.”
Hauser also will have runners competing today, although the Jets do not have enough boys or girls to score as a team. The top 10 individuals not on advancing teams qualify for the regional.
