BLOOMINGTON — Columbus North senior Mitchell Burton did not expect to fare that well in the last Conference Indiana track meet of his high school career, but he walked away with two individual conference titles.
Burton jumped 21 feet, 8¾ inches for a first-place finish in the long jump and won the 100 meters in 11.38 seconds. He also placed third in the 200 and anchored the winning 4×100 relay team to help the Bull Dogs place third overall.
“To do it senior year in my last conference meet, it was pretty nice,” Burton said. “They weren’t great times, but with it being cold, I was pretty happy with what I did.”
No. 20 Bloomington South won the meet with 130 points. No. 14 Bloomington North was the runner-up with 110½ points to 104 for No. 15 Columbus North.
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“We did well,” Bull Dogs coach Lou Sipe said. “We outperformed some of our seeding. I was very proud of our kids.”
Freshman Olivia Morlok won the girls 3,200 in 11:19.61. Morlok said Monday’s meet was the biggest track meet in which she has ever competed.
“I was pretty nervous because I did not know what to expect,” Morlock said. “I feel like once I settled in with that pack of three girls, I knew that I just had to keep going and then it would be OK.”
The Columbus North girls placed sixth with 50½ points. Franklin Central won with 156 points.
The Bull Dogs had 17 other top-eight individual event finishes between the two teams. The boys had four second-place finishes with Brigham Kleinheinz in the pole vault (13-6), Coleman Tennyson in the shot put (54-3), Jaylen Flemmons in the 400 (50.87) and Triston Perry in the 300 hurdles (39.77).
Perry also placed third in the 110 hurdles (15.88). Charlie Allen placed fifth in the 3,200 (9:45.62) and Damon Hunter Jr. was fifth in the 100 (11.68). Hunter Jr. also ran the 200 in 24.14 to finish seventh. Hunter Wolford threw the shot put 48-8 to place sixth, and Sam Horak finished the 1600 in 4:44.31 to place eighth.
Other top finishers for the girls included Jahna Smiley’s third place in the high jump (5-0) and Maura VanDeventer’s fourth in the 100 hurdles (17.53). Emma Wetherald threw the discus 97-6 to place sixth. Arig Tong finished the 1600 in 5:34.18 to place seventh, and Dakota Gates placed eighth in the 200 (28.17).
“Our girls did very well in spots,” Sipe said. “We’ve got some work to do in other spots, but overall, I’m very excited of where we’re at and where we’re going.”
