North boys, girls take third in Weinheimer Classic

By
Ted Schultz
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Columbus North’s Neal White runs in the Rick Weinheimer Cross Country Classic at Ceraland, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023.

Paige Grider | For The Republic

After seeing its Rick Weinheimer Cross Country Classic washed out by storms last year, Columbus North had a chance to host it on its slightly-revised Ceraland course on Saturday.

While the second-ranked Noblesville boys and girls ran away with the team titles, the host Bull Dogs finished third in both races.

Noblesville won the boys meet with 64 points to 88 for No. 8 Floyd Central, and No. 12 Columbus North edgd No. 13 Bloomington North 115-118 for third. No. 20 Greenfield-Central finished fifth with 124, and No. 25 Perry Meridian was sixth with 161.

On the girls side, Noblesville won with 44 points to 105 for No. 18 Avon, 110 for No. 19 Columbus North and 116 for No. 16 Floyd Central.

Junior Neal White ran a nearly-30-second personal record to finish second in the boys race. His 15-minute, 13.-5-second clocking for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) trailed only the 15.10.2 run by Floyd Central’s Will Conway, one of the state’s top runners.

“I think it was just trying to stay more focused and not trying to lead from the gun,” White said. “I spent most of the first (kilometer) in like eighth-to-10th, which I think helped out. I think leading out front is a lot harder.”

Also for the Bull Dogs, Akot Tong finished 18th in 16:02.2. Jace Works took 28th in 16:21.8, while Daven Martinez was 32nd (16:25.6), Logan Vanzant 37th (16:32.8), Jonny Klaus 39th (16:36.2), Amit Gangadhara 41st (16:45.3), Adam Reckers 45th (16:52.1), Denton Sluder 50th (17:02.0) and Evan Bense 52nd (17:09.8).

 

“Neal White ran a perfectly planned race and broke into our Top 10 with his 15:13,” North coach Rick Sluder said. “He and Akot Tong led us to a great day on the boys side, finishing third against tremendous competition.”
Jennings County finished 11th with with 327 points. Kraedyn Young took 22nd in 16:12.7, while Aaron Lewis was 60th (17:20.1), Lain Ernstes 78th (17:47.1), Dawson Leak 93rd (18:07.1), Jace Vojkufka 109th (18:35.9), Brock Maschino 119th (18:49.8), Eli Lucas 133rd (19:13.7), Colin Sharp 135th (19:17.0), Jace Phillips 157th (20:29.1) and Eric Valdovinos 166th (21:21.8).

“I am very, very pleased with our effort,” Jennings boys coach Luke Inman said. “We had a lot of time drops. This is a race that we have circled on our schedule as wanting to put our best foot forward and give it our best effort. This is a race we wanted to perform well at, and we took our team average from 18:08 down to 17:35. So that tells me that our guys are working hard in practice, that they went out and they competed and it paid off for them.”

Columbus East finished 18th with 535 points. Jackson Brookes took 92nd in 18:06.9, while Lorren Westerfeld was 108th (18:34.6), Austin Menefee 126th (18:56.5), Stillman Whittington 145th (19:47.6), Chris Gilroy 155th (20:21.1), Chance Knapp 156th (20:21.1), Elijah Clore 159th (20:32.9), Zeke Weatherford 168th (21:30.4), Zander Weatherford 170th (21:50.2) and Asher Stevens 177th (23:45.0).

“They raced really hard,” East coach Ryan Burke said. “We had a lot of PRs. I’m really happy with the effort they put in, and we’re going to keep working and keep trying to improve.”

Meanwhile, in the girls race, Columbus North led by juniors Kyleigh Wolf, who finished 14th in 19:49.7 and Carys Glyn-Jones, who was 19th in 20:06.4.

“I went out pretty fast,” Wolf said. “I think all of us North girls did a really good job with that and for the most part, we held on really well. I think Carys did a really good job at pushing the pace and pulling me along.”

Also for the Bull Dogs, Ainsley Sherlock finished 24th in 20:17.4, while Macy Eaton took 26th in 20:31.4, Maggie Russell and Katie Frazier were 30th and 31st in 20:50.0 and 20:57.7, Lydia Weed 35th (21:01.2), Kenzie Meyer 48th (21:19.5), Emma Lowther 60th (21:42.6) and Lana Wisler 64th (21:49.5).

 

“Kyleigh Wolf and Carys Glyn-Jones really worked well together and led one of the best pack races we have run in a while,” Rick Sluder said. “Our third place finish was really an amazing day, and we are really excited with where we are headed.”

 

Jennings County slipped past Columbus East 379-402 for 15th and 16th place. Avery Willhite led the Panthers with a 66th-place finish in 22:02.1, while Haley Vogel was 69th (22:09.7), Alana Watts 90th (22:57.5), Addie Otte 97th (23:16.9), Kambrie Maschino 116th (23:46.9), Isla Stevens 127th (24:23.8), Izzy Logan 132nd (24:38.3) and Molly Wathen 136th (25:04.1).

“They have been working very hard,” Jennings girls coach Amanda Young said. “Our goal with what we been working for is, we have another month before sectional, so we have to be ready when we need to peak and run our best times. We need to get our Mile 2 and 3 down and get faster in those.”

Carly Otte finished 47th in 21:17.6 to lead the Olympians. Amelia Fay took 75th in 22:21.1), while Madison Swartzentruber was 105th (23:28.7), while Victoria Cuhadar was 117th (23:48.4), Abby Collins 121st (23:56.7), Hayden Carothers 122nd (23:58.3), Jami Porter 130th (24:28.4), Carsyn Schlehuser 148th (26:40.5) and Mallory Kaiser 150th (26:57.9).

“I really liked our effort today,” East girls coach Jesse Shoaf said. “We kind of got back into our training mode and really settled down. Carly had a great time.”

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