The Columbus North girls won the team title at Saturday’s Rick Weinheimer Classic at Ceraland.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
An unseasonably cool morning led to personal records for a big majority of the local cross-country runners competing in Saturday’s Rick Weinheimer Classic at Ceraland.
That especially was the case for the Columbus North girls. In a meet in which teams can run up to 10 varsity runners, all 10 girls from the host Bull Dogs ran PRs as North raced to the Girls AA team title.
“It was a really fun race,” said senior Carys Glyn-Jones, who won the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) race in 17 minutes, 57.6 seconds. “I felt good. I ran with my teammates for most of it, so that felt great. The weather was great. Compared to the last meet, it was definitely ideal weather.”
The seventh-ranked Bull Dogs scored 51 points to 63 for No. 8 Noblesville. Milford (Ohio) finished third with 107 points, while Floyd Central took fourth with 107 and No. 19 Bloomington North was fifth with 122.
“That was a big win for us,” Sluder said. “(Noblesville is) a top-eight team in the state, so for us to beat them and run really well, that pushes us to what we want to be — hopefully on the podium at the state meet.”
Tristan Works finished eighth in 18:44.9. Kyleigh Wolf took 11th in 18::47.6, while Macy Eaton was 12th (18:47.8), Emma Lowther 18th (19:15.6), Ainsley Sherlock (19:30.1), Adira Sluder 29th (19:47.1), Renzy Zhong 31st (19:51.3), Kodi Smith 34th (19:53.1) and Wendy Zhong 35th (19:58.9).
“They ran outstanding, just every girl, both varsity and reserve,” North coach Rick Sluder said. “Carys ran really well, obviously, and then Kyleigh Wolf and Tristan Works and Macy Eaton, Emma Lowther, Ainsley Sherlock, Adira Sluder — they all ran fantastic. I think we went 10 for 10 in girls varsity in PRs.”
Jennings County finished 17th with 443 points. Alana Watts took 60th in 20:57.8, while Haley Vogel was 86th (21:38.8), Shelby Allen 92nd (21:47.1), Bella Miller 141st (23:24.8), Isla Stevens 143rd (23:30.5), Avery Willhite 158th (24:31.7), Addy Herche 160th (24:34.5), Natalie Phillips 175th (26:53.7) and Haley Riffel 186th (30:25.7).
“Almost every single one of our girls got a PR, so we are super happy with our times overall,” Jennings girls coach Megan Stevens said. “The weather I think helped everybody. We’ve been working hard and almost everybody PR’d, so it was a fun race.”
Columbus East finished 20th with 570 points. Madison Swartzentruber took 113th in 22:26.7, while Amelia Fay was 127th (22:56.0), Ainslee Shaw 145th (23:45.7), Elizabeth Sztaba 151st (24:16.8), Delaney Rogers 153rd (24:20.0), Hayden Carothers 164th (24:56.3), Abby Collins 165th (24:57.6), Isabel Burbrink 176th (26:53.7), Madison Mount 180th (28:03.3) and Eleanor Dickson 182nd (28:23.5).
“I was really pleased with how we did today,” East girls coach Jesse Shoaf said. “We had several season PRs. We have a lot of new girls in the varsity spots, and we had six PRs today, so I’m more than pleased with where we are at this stage in the season. We’re just looking to keep improving and be ready for our conference and tournament time.”
Meanwhile, in the boys race, No. 6 Columbus North finished second behind No. 1 Noblesville. The Millers scored 46 points to 63 for the Bull Dogs, 80 for No. 3 Bloomington North, 97 for No. 8 Evansville Reitz and 187 for Floyd Central.
Columbus North’s Neal White crosses the finish line in Saturday’s Rick Weinheimer Classic at Ceraland.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
Neal White led the Bull Dogs with a fourth-place finish in 15:13.4. Jace Works took seventh in 15:24.2, while Evan Bense was 14th (15:38.0), Draven Martinez 18th (15:50.1), Justin Reckers 20th (15:54.7), Jonny Klaus 24th (15:59.2), Graham Pumphrey 29th (16:08.5), Logan Vanzant 36th (16:18.6), Sam Steinmetz 43rd (16:25.6) and Cole Stevens 44th (16:26.5).
“Noblesville is the No. 1 team in the state, and we gave them everything they could have handled,” Rick Sluder said. “I feel real confident where we’re headed in the future. The boys just ran outstanding. Neal ran outstanding, and we were very close to running 10 for 10 PRs in that boys race. I’m just really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Jennings County’s Kraedyn Young broke the school record by 35 seconds in finishing second in 15:07.1 to lead the Panthers to a 13th-place team finish with 335 points. Brock Maschino took 78th in 17:08.1, while Dawson Leak was 86th (17:21.9), Cash Summers 93rd (17:29.4), Zachary Wahlman 100th (17:37.4), Max Rodriguez 111th (17:59.5), Eli Lucas 115th (18:01.5), Jace Phillips 171st (20:08.6) and Sean Ernstes 180th (20:24.3).
“Our team average (for the top five), we got below that 17-minute threshold, which is a really big deal for us,” Jennings boys coach Luke Inman said. “We haven’t done that in two years. I challenged these guys this week to set goals that seemed out of reach, and once they get out here and race and perform well, that goal isn’t out of reach, or they’re a lot closer to those goals than what they think. They responded to that challenge, and I’m really proud of the guys the way they responded.”
East finished 19th with 527 points. Norman Dickson took 89th in 17:26.1, while Elijah Clore was 106th (17:43.5), Austin Menefee 120th (18:06.7), Jackson Brookes 127th (18:22.6), Chance Knapp 132nd (18:33.2), Lorren Westerfeld 139th (18:47.1), Riley Wilson 143rd (18:52.8), Maddox Hult 162nd (19:50.3), Zander Weatherford 184th (21:05.3) and Asher Stevens 186th (21:08.1),
“We trusted our training, and everything is playing out just as we thought it would,” East boys coach Gabe Ocasio said. “Two weeks ago, we had a five-man average of 19 minutes and some change, and today, we were 18:02, and we’ve been training through these races, which has been really nice for us. We’re still running on heavy legs because these meets don’t matter as much as it does for the postseason. So we’re still training hard, and 90 percent of the team PR’d, so we’re very happy.”
In the Class A division, Brown County’s boys finished 11th, and the Eagle girls were 12th. Madison won the Boys A division, and Eastern Greene edged Tell City in the Girls A division.
Aden Skaggs led the Brown County boys with a 25th-place finish in 17:50.4. Kai Koester took 33rd in 18:12.4, while Nathan Cumberledge was 48th (18:37.3), Jacob Schwein 92nd (20:08.5) and Xavier Himebaugh 111th (20:47.8).
Izzy Miller and Sadie Hiatt finished 29th and 30th in 22:36.5 and 22:36.9 to lead the Eagle girls. Della Hitchcock took 67th in 24:34.6, while Nora Mofield was 87th (25:23.2), Megan Cumberledge 95th (26:13.6) and Michaela Smith 101st (27:02.6).
