When Collin Pruitt was a kid, he lived in his father’s hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky, for a couple years.
Next year, Pruitt will head back to Bowling Green, this time as a college student. The Columbus North senior has committed to run cross-country and track at Western Kentucky University.
"I’ve been looking at Western for about four years now," Pruitt said. "It’s not too far from home. I wanted to stay in the region. I used to live in Bowling Green because my dad lived there, and I have a lot of family there. There will be a few cousins going to school there with me."
Pruitt picked the Hilltoppers over Bellarmine, mainly because of the size of the school. Both are Division I programs, but WKU is about five times larger.
"It was a tough decision between Bellarmine and Western Kentucky, and I decided Western Kentucky was the place for me," Pruitt said. "I’m confident in my decision. I contacted the coach (Brooks LeCompte) early in 2020, and I like the feel there. I feel like I’ll be able to go in freshman year and make a big difference — maybe not top three, but I’ll definitely be shooting at 4 through 7 spots for cross-country."
This fall, Pruitt has been a key runner for a Bull Dogs cross-country team that is ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 6 nationally by MileSplit. He ran a career-best 15 minutes, 59.9 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) in the Conference Indiana meet at Ceraland.
As a sophomore, Pruitt ran on North’s state-qualifying 4×800-meter relay team in track. He ran a 4:34.42 1,600 in indoor track this spring, but the outdoor season was canceled because of COVID-19.
"I’m glad it wasn’t my last, but it definitely hurt," Pruitt said. "I was excited to try to break 4:20 in the mile and go to state. I’m glad I still have one more year, one more shot at it."
Pruitt, who is planning to major in business and minor in graphic design at WKU, has been running cross-county and track since the seventh grade at Northside Middle School. This is his third year running varsity cross-country for the Bull Dogs.
Saturday morning, Pruitt will help lead North into its own regional, which will be held at Ceraland.
"I’m really excited," Pruitt said. "I’m happy that we’ve been able to have as close to a normal season as we can with COVID. Hopefully, we can go in and win state. Unfortunately, we can’t go to nationals and try to win a national championship (since it has been canceled), but we’ll do what we can in Indiana."
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Columbus North cross-country regional
When: 10:30 a.m. Saturday (girls) and 11:15 a.m. Saturday (boys)
Where: Ceraland
Girls teams: Columbus North, Columbus East, Brown County, Jennings County, Charlestown, Madison, Martinsville, Seymour, Silver Creek, Southwestern (Hanover)
Boys teams: Columbus North, Brown County, Jennings County, Austin, Brownstown Central, Jeffersonville, Martinsville, Seymour, Silver Creek, Southwestern (Hanover)
Admission: $5
[sc:pullout-text-end]
