Columbus North High School

September 2, 2024 - The Columbus North boys took the top four spots and seven of the top nine to easily win the 17-team Franklin Community Cross Country Invitational on Saturday (August 31). The girls claimed seven of the top thirteen positions to win their division as well. Top three team scores included: Boys: CN (16), Indian Creek (75), Center Grove (92) Boys: CN (33), East Central (72), Center Grove (88) Individual place winners for Columbus North included: Boys: Neal White (1st), Jace Works (2nd), Draven Martinez (3rd), Jonny Klaus (4th), Justin Reckers (6th), Sam Steinmetz (7th), and Logan Vanzant (9th) among 215 runners. Girls: Carys Glyn Jones (3rd), Kyleigh Wolf (6th), Macy Eaton (7th), Ainsley Sherlock (8th), Tristan Works (9th), Emma Lowther (12th), and Rendy Zhong (13th) among 156 runners. Head cross country coach, Rick Sluder, was very pleased with the team’s performances. “The girls faced some big adversity as they had just gotten to the starting line when the meet was delayed (due to weather). They had to head to the buses and start the process all over. The boys (also) faced a long delay and time just sitting on the bus, (which was) not ideal. They ran equally or even better than the outstanding performance of the girls.” He went on to say, “Both teams won the team titles and (ran) extremely well all throughout the lineup. Our JV runner and freshmen ran outstanding. This is a great performance heading into the big portion of our season. We are excited to host the Rick Weinheimer Classic next week (Saturday, September 7) and see how much we’ve improved.”. Photo: Neal White placed first individually at the Franklin Community Invitational on Saturday, August 31 with a time of 15:50.0, leading the Dogs to a first-place team finish. White was over 17 seconds faster than runner-up (and teammate) Jace Works. The girls also won their division.