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TERRE HAUTE – There were 250 boys in the IHSAA’s 80th state cross-country meet Saturday. It came down to two:

Calvin Seitz and Noah Bontrager.

For the longest time, it was much more. Through two miles, there were as many as 10 others within four seconds of pacesetter Seitz.

Then with a kilometer left, Seitz sought to see if anyone else had anything left. Almost no one did. Except Bontrager.

“He was basically the main contender,” said Seitz, a Springs Valley junior. “Really, just playing his game and trying to take over at the 4K.”

He could not have known Bontrager was wavering.

“I almost didn’t hang on,” the Westview senior conceded. “Really smart of him. He’ a great runner and knows his stuff.”

Still, Seitz didn’t know if it was enough.

Top two were both timed in 15:01.3 for 5,000 meters on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course. Detailed results showed first and second separated by two-hundredths of a second, 15:01.22 to 15:01.24.

“I had no idea, man,” Seitz said.

Not until he was summoned to the tower where the livestream announcers were stationed did he realize he really was the state champion. Springs Valley had never before placed anyone in the top 10.

 Hard race, for sure.

“Maybe a little more than I wanted to be,” Seitz said. “It’s all about that last 400. Awesome last 100 meters.”

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Seitz had led through a 4:40.9 mile and 9:37.8 two-mile. He and Bontrager finished six second ahead of third-place John Libs of Noblesville.

Bontrager was second at state last November and won a 4:02.79/8:51.22 double in the 1,600/3,200 at June’s state track meet. But a recent illness affected him so much that he was second in a regional.

Bontrager moved up in the closing steps and might have eclipsed Seitz for an instant. Afterward, the winner helped Bontrager to his feet.

“I just couldn’t get up. I felt terrible,” Bontrager said.

He did come away with the Charles F. Maas Mental Attitude Award, and he remained upbeat about what’s ahead. The Notre Dame commit aims to qualify for both Nike and Brooks (formerly Foot Locker) nationals. In those nationals last year, he was 19th and 16th, respectively.

And he wants to become Indiana’s first sub-4-minute miler in high school. Not even Cole Hocker did that.

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Seitz, meanwhile, is relieved to be returning to his freshman form, when he was at Jasper. Two years ago, he was 12th at state and became a Junior Olympics national champion.

As a sophomore, Seitz didn’t race at state. He said he was coping with anemia and Epstein-Barr virus. That lingered into spring, and he didn’t run high school track, either.

Afterward, he transferred to Springs Valley.

“It just took time to stack the days up,” Seitz said.

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In team standings, Columbus North won emphatically with 56 points, the best score since Columbus North had 43 in 2003. It was Columbus North’s seventh state title, all since 2002, and first under coach Rick Sluder.

Noblesville was second with 131, Homestead third with 154 and defending champion Bloomington North fourth with 169.

Columbus North had edged Bloomington North 34-44 in the Evansville Regional.

There was a 31-second spread from Columbus North’s first to fifth runners, all in the top 27.

Topping the Bull Dogs was eighth-place Jace Works, who has run a 1:50.7 split in the 4x800 relay and now has a 15:13.9 time in the 5,000. Denton Sluder, son of the coach, was 13th in 15:31.9.

Justin Reckers was 17th, Joseph Day 22nd and Levi Carothers 27th. Even sixth man Graham Pumphrey nearly made all-state (top 25), finishing 33rd.

With individuals displaced, Columbus North scorers were 4-8-10-15-19.

“We went into June with a pretty good idea we could be a top two, top three team,” coach Sluder said. “And then, as the season went, we knew what our goal was. Our goal was to try to win.”

Bloomington North placed two in the top 10, Jacob Mitchell (fifth) and Caelan D’Onofrio (10th). Bloomington North’s Caleb Winders, who set an all-time state record of 1:46.85 in winning the New Balance nationals 800 meters, climbed 12 spots in the last mile to finish 20th in 15:40.3.