Columbus East High School

The Columbus East girls cross-country team gained valuable experience against a deep field Saturday morning at the Columbus North Classic Invitational, highlighted by several personal-best performances. Sophomore Ainslee Shaw paced the Olympians with a huge breakthrough, dropping one minute and 13 seconds off her previous best to cross the line in 21:44. Her effort placed her 127th overall in the large, competitive race. Elizabeth Sztaba followed as East’s No. 2 runner, clocking 22:29 for a personal-best by nearly a full minute. Abby Collins turned in a season-best 23:28 to finish third for East, while Trinity Burns cut almost two minutes from her previous record with a 23:55. Rounding out the scoring five was Brooke Newell at 24:33. As a team, the Olympians finished 33rd in the varsity standings. The JV squad also showed strong improvement. Leigh Vandergriff led the way with a 27:55—more than two minutes faster than her prior best. Marleigh Stidham posted a lifetime PR of 31:58, trimming over two minutes from her old mark. Meanwhile, Lucy Morales (31:40), Abby Morales (29:14), and Brooklyn Reedy (30:25) all made their official debuts for the program. “I was really pleased with how we ran today,” East head coach Jesse Shoaf said. “We had four or five PRs in our top five girls, so that was really good. Our goal is just to keep improving as we get to tournament time.” The Olympians will look to continue their progress next Saturday when they travel to the Eagle Classic, hosted by Brown County High School. The meet is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Pictures: 1) Ainslee Shaw 2) Trinity Burns 3) Brooke Newell 4) Elizabeth Sztaba