Columbus North swept the day at the 2022 Conference Indiana Championships on a sunny Saturday morning in Ceraland Park. The Bulldogs took both the boys and girls team titles for the fourth consecutive year, with Columbus North runners finishing 1-2 in both races.
The morning began at 9:00 AM with the girls race, which almost immediately settled into a lead pack of three runners with Bloomington South's Lily Myers coming to the mile alongside Julia Kiesler and Lily Baker out of Columbus North. Kiesler would pull away to win the day in a time of 17:28, matching her season best time. Baker finished just over ten seconds behind her teammate in a season best 17:39, while Myers finished a distant third in a career best of 18:22.
Columbus North put all seven varsity runners in the top ten to win the meet with just 20 points. Bloomington South took a convincing second with 55 points, while Bloomington North stayed just ahead of Southport for third with 80 points.
Columbus North Senior Clayton Guthrie won the boys race in 15:21, dropping five seconds from his previous personal record set just last week at Brown County. Bulldog William Russell out-kicked Bloomington South's Ryan Rheam in an incredibly close race for second, and both were credited with a time of 15:32.
As expected, Bloomington South and Bloomington North had a very tight race for second in the team standings. In the end, it was Bloomington South that came out on the better end of this battle, beating Bloomington North by a mere five points. Both teams were thirty points adrift of the champions, Columbus North who finished with 26 points.
Many of these teams will see each other again at the prestigious Nike Twilight Invitational in the final week of the regular season. Look for continuing cross country coverage across our site as we head through the late stages of the regular season and into the postseason!