Columbus North’s Jace Works, left, sprints to the finish line in the boys race at the IHSAA Cross Country State Championship meet on Saturday, November 2, 2024 at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute.
Rob Baker | For The Republic
TERRE HAUTE — Columbus North’s boys and girls cross-country teams went into Saturday’s state finals with hopes of landing on the medals podium with top-five finishes.
Although the Bull Dogs didn’t get those podium spots with a sixth-place boys finish and a 10th-place girls finish, coach Rick Sluder wasn’t disappointed with the efforts.
“We should never take that for granted,” Sluder said. “There are a lot of schools who just want to get here once, and for us to get here and get 10th and sixth, our two teams should be really proud of themselves today, and I thought they represented Columbus North really well.”
The North boys had an especially heartbreaking day. After finishing two points out of fifth place last year, the Bull Dogs came up five points short of the final podium spot on Saturday. Bloomington North won with 105 points, followed by Noblesville (115), Brownsburg (172), Northridge (181), Fishers (198) and Colmbus North (203).
“It’s not fun,” Sluder said. “But our guys ran their butts off today. They ran really well. It it’s just a really tight state meet up front. You train all year to get sixth in the state. It’s a really good performance, and I think you can be both disappointed and also excited that you were sixth at the same time. If you come to the state meet and be a little disappointed in sixth, that’s a pretty good season.”
Junior Jace Works did land on the podium as an individual. Works, who finished 100th last year, placed 15th in 15 minutes, 33.32 seconds to earn All-State honors.
“The one thing I wanted to come here and do was to prove myself and to be top 25 and get All-State,” Works said. “Throughout the race, I heard people saying, ‘This is top 25. You’re this place or that place,’ and I was just thinking the whole time that I wanted to be in the top 25, so at the very end, my group made a big push, and I thought, ‘This is it. If I don’t go for this, it won’t happen.’ So I just made the decision to go for it, and it ended up working out.”
Senior Neal White, who finished 12th last year, took 34th in 15:43.01. Draven Martinez finished 68th in 16:05.56, while Denton Sluder was 75th (16:10.04), Justin Reckers 97th (16:19.85), Jonny Klaus 103rd (16:22.29) and Logan Vanzant 170th (16:47.23).
“Jace ran incredible to get 15th, and Neal ran a good race to get 34th and Draven and Denton came in well together,” Rick Sluder said. “Jonny and Justin and Logan ran well.”
Two other area schools had individuals competing. Hauser junior Nolan Dailey finished 156th in 15:40.79.
“I just went out too hard, ultimately,” Dailey said. “I went out in 2:50 the first K, and I was trying to stay up with everyone and I just slowly fell back. My legs gave out. It was a really good learning experience, so next year, I’m hoping to do a lot better than I did this year.”
Jennings County senior Kraedyn Young finished 194th in 16:56.14.
Meanwhile, Columbus North’s girls were a little off the pace that led them to a regional title last week. The Bull Dogs finished with 314 points. Carmel won with 76 points to 92 for runner-up Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran.
“We thought we could be a little better, but it was also a tough field, and we were missing one of our top girls (Ainsley Sherlock),” Rick Sluder said. “That’s not an excuse, but we just had a little bit of an off day, and we’re still top 10 and the girls should be really proud of that. “
Senior Carys Glyn-Jones made the medals podium as an individual. Glyn-Jones, who finished 29th last year, placed 19th in 18:08.44 to earn All-State honors.
“I’m pretty happy,” Glyn-Jones said. “I think I gave it my all, especially in the last stretch. I left it all out there, so with my effort, I’m extremely happy. I’m just very proud of all the girls, no matter what place we came in. I think we all gave it our all.”
Tristan Works finished 102nd in 19:26.62. Kyleigh Wolf took 117th in 19:40.85, while Emma Lowther was 134th (19:49.78), Adira Sluder 135th (19:50.77), Rendy Zhong 152nd (19:58.52) and Macy Eaton 158th (19:59.95).
“Carys today ran really well at 19th, and then Kyleigh finished out her senior year really well for cross-country,” Rick Sluder said. “Our sophomore group ran well, so we have a lot of things to be proud of. Macy finished up a great career for us today.”
