Columbus North’s Matt Newell competes in the 4x800-meter relay during the Conference Indiana track meet at Bloomington North High School in Bloomington, Ind., Friday, April 29, 2022. Newell later ran the state’s fastest time this season in the 800.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
BLOOMINGTON — The Columbus North boys track team may not have won the Conference Indiana meet on Friday, but the Bull Dogs might have established themselves as the favorite to win the state title in June.
The Bull Dogs put up outdoor state-bests in five events in five events to go along with two other No. 2 state performances. If they can do that at the state meet, that’s 66 points, a number that usually is more enough to win state titles.
Senior Tucker Smith had a huge hand in that, first throwing a state-best and school record-tying 174 feet, 5 inches in the discus. He then broke his own state record in the shot put, ultimately throwing 72- 1/2 on his sixth and final attempt.
Smith’s six throws went 70-9, 68-8, 68-9, 70-0, 70-4 1/2 and 72- 1/2. His first throw of the evening was the first to clear 70 feet by an Indiana high school thrower. His 72- 1/2 toss is tops in the nation this year and ranks 15th in the all-time national high school rankings.
Meanwhile, senior Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff ran a state outdoor-best 4 minutes, 11.11 seconds in the 1,600 meters, and senior Matt Newell (1:53.64) and junior Mateo Mendez (1:53.68) put themselves at the top of the leaderboard in the 800. Those three teamed with Kellen Hottell to run 7:48.53 in the 4×800 relay, a time eclipsed only by the Bull Dogs’ 7:46.04 at the state indoor meet.
Not to be lost in the shuffle of Friday’s scintillating performances, Mendez, Noah Abfall, Kilbarger-Stumpff and Newell wrapped up the meet by winning the 4×400 relay in a school-record 3:23.18, a time that ranks just three-tenths of a second behind Fishers’ top state time.
While the Bull Dog boys finished 10 points behind champion Bloomington North at the conference meet, the Columbus North girls captured their first conference title since 2019 with a nine-point spread over the host Cougars.
The girls, too, had some big-time performances. Junior Lily Baker ran a school-record 2:15.48 in winning the 800.
Columbus North’s Brianna Newell, left, and Katherine Rumsey celebrate after finishing in first and second in the 1,600 meters at the Conference Indiana track meet at Bloomington North High School in Bloomington, Ind., Friday, April 29, 2022. Rumsey later won the 3,200, helping the Bull Dogs secure the girls team title.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Junior Brianna Newell and senior Katherine Rumsey went 1-2 in the 1,600, Baker and junior Julie Klaus went 1-2 in the 800 and Rumsey and junior Julia Kiesler went 1-2 in the 3,200. Freshman Kyleigh Wolf, Klaus, Brianna Newell and Baker won the 4×800 relay in 9:36.64 in an event in which they ran the state’s fastest time of 9:28.52 in last week’s dual meet at Columbus East.
Of course, several other performances were key to the Bull Dogs’ title on Friday. Among the notable were runner-up finishes from seniors Emma Martin in the discus and Sasha Goodlow in the 300 hurdles and a second-place tie from freshman Sierra Newell and junior Mariame Niang in the pole vault.
Topping it all off was the closing 4×400 relay, where Brianna Newell, freshman Ava Collier, Klaus and Baker won the race to clinch the title for the Bull Dogs.
Both Columbus North teams figure to battle it out with Center Grove at the sectional meets, which are May 17 at Franklin for the girls and May 19 at North for the boys. Even if the Bull Dogs don’t win those meets, they’ll still be big contenders at the regional and state meets the following two weeks.
Ted Schultz is sports editor for The Republic. He can be reached at [email protected] or 812-379-5628.
