Columbus North’s Denton Sluder, right, and Hauser’s Nolan Dailey sprint to the finish line at the Brown County Sectional Oct. 19 at Eagle Park in Nashville.
Nicholas Shaw | For The Republic
When Rick Sluder took over as girls cross-country coach at Columbus North seven years ago, then added the boys coaching role a few years later, he hoped his son and daughter could become an integral part of those programs.
This year, that hope has come to fruition. Junior Denton Sluder and sophomore Adira Sluder have been mainstays on the Bull Dog varsity boys and girls teams this season and hope to help them to podium finishes in Saturday’s state finals.
“As a coach and a dad, you have this vision that you hope your kids can contribute, and that they can get the most out of it,” Rick said. “This has been a really fun year for me to see those two develop.”
Denton ran mostly JV as a freshman and sophomore, and Adira was a JV runner last cross-country season. This year, both have broken through onto the varsity.
Columbus North’s Adira Sluder runs along the woods line at the Brown County Sectional Oct. 19 at Eagle Park in Nashville.
Nicholas Shaw | For The Republic
“I got into the mindset that I can do great things, and that those great things contribute to my team,” Adira said. “So when I started running faster myself, I was pulling my team along with me.”
Early in the season, Denton had a quad injury that developed into a knee injury. He missed about a month of training in August and September.
Denton Sluder
Since then, he has steadily lowered his time. He improved his 5K (3.1-mile) personal-best from last year by about 40 seconds with his 15-minute, 44-second clocking in last week’s Evansville Mater Dei Regional, where he was North’s No. 3 runner.
“I just trained and was consistent,” Denton said. “I got hurt earlier this season and then I did a lot of elliptical to try to get my fitness back. I guess that’s helped a lot.”
“Denton battled some injuries early in the year, and we didn’t know what kind of season he was going to have, so it’s been really fun to see him bounce back in these last few races and see him reach his potential,” Rick added. “I’ve just been thrilled that he’s been able to overcome his injury and get back. He missed about four weeks or so of really hard training. So to watch him come back and run 15:44 has been really special.”
Adira Sluder
Adira has been the No. 7 runner on the girls team for most of this season. She ran a personal-best 19:42 last week as the Bull Dogs won the regional title.
“I love helping my team out and getting better so that we can all make it to state together,” Adira said.
“Having Adira really kind of get into it last year in track and now into the fall and becoming varsity, it’s just feels really special as a dad,” Rick added. “And I won’t lie, it also feels really special as a coach to be able to have that double-impact with your kids.”
Those kids are happy to be running for their father.
“I know that he’s a good person and a good coach, so I knew I was expecting to get good training for me and my team,” Adira said.
“It was exciting because I knew that he was one of the best in the state, and I knew I’d be getting some of the best (coaching) in the state,” Denton added. “I think it’s really been paying off.”
Columbus North cross-country and track coach Rick Sluder watches a practice at Columbus North High School.
The Republic file photo
Rick said he was careful not to burn his kids out on running at an early age.
“You have all those fears as a dad — do you overtrain them? Do you push them too hard?” Rick said. “You hear these dads who have them out in fifth grade running 40 miles a week. I try to do everything right. I let them start running when they wanted to start running. I motivated them when I wanted to. If they really didn’t want to run, I didn’t make them run when they were little. They really picked it up at Northside (Middle School). The Northside coaches like Kyle Burton really got them into loving the sport, and we’ve just been able to take it from there.”
Both Denton and Adira want to continue their running careers in college like their father, who ran at Indiana State.
“Denton is the classic competitor, and Adira really loves her teammates and loves competing for the team,” Rick said. “She really loved the fact that her team won (at regional) and that she got to contribute to that. Denton is that hard-nosed kid who wants to run fast and then is mad when his team didn’t win. They both love their team, and that was special for me to come to Columbus North and be a part of that and see my two kids want to compete for that Flying ‘C.’ I love that they both buy into being part of a team.”
Those North teams will be competing on Saturday at Terre Haute’s LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. The Bull Dog girls are ranked fifth, and the boys and ranked sixth. The top five earn spots on the medals podium.
“I think the girls team, we have a great chance to get up on the podium because we all are running great and strong,” Adira said.
“I’m super excited,” Denton added. “I think we have a great chance to get on the podium. I’m just glad that I’m doing it with my teammates.”
