Highland freshman Sarah Burton broke out of a month-long slump to claim a SEISC North  long jump championship in the conference meet on Thursday at WACO. 

“It felt really good,” said Burton, who won the event with a distance of 16-00.5 on her third attempt. Her first attempt was a scratch, and the second was just over 14 feet. 

“On the third one, I focused more on putting my last step down and pushing up, to get height to be able to get a little farther,” she explained.

Burton’s career best was 16-06.25 at Mediapolis on April 6, which currently ranks sixth in 1A. 

“At the beginning of the year, I was up there,” Burton said. “I was definitely surprising myself and then I just went into a dark, bad hole jumping low 14s.”

Burton climbed out of that hole just in time, with the Huskies returning to WACO for the district meet on Thursday, May 13. Burton was also a member of Highland’s second-place sprint relays. The 4x100-meter relay of MyLei Smith, Burton, Katelyn Waters, and MacKenzie McFarland finished second behind Wapello with a time of 53.92 and the 4x200 of Alyssa Clarke, Burton, Waters and McFarland also finished right behind the Arrows with a time of 1:52.86.

The Highland girls tied for third out of nine teams with 80 points. Pekin ran away with the conference title with 195. 

“It was a night filled with top-notch teams and tough competition so I was pretty satisfied with that team placing,” Highland girls track coach Angie Strobel said.   

“All the Highland girls that stepped on the track made me proud. These girls are there to compete and I love it! Our 4 x 200 ran a season best time, which was great to see coming to the end of the season.” 

Taylor Sublette finished third in the 400-meter dash with a new season-best time of 1:09.38. Fiona Mahler was just five second off of her season low with a third-place finish of 6:13 in the 1500-meter race. 

The Highland boys finished seventh at the conference meet, led by a pair of second-place finishes in the sprint relays. The 4x100-meter relay of Kadin Jepson, Taylor Day, Tyler Thompson, and Connor Grinstead finished second to Wapello with a time of 45.94 and the 4x200 of Jepson, Brenton Bonebrake, Thompson, and Grinstead was second behind Mediapolis with a time of 1:36.41. 

Connor Grinstead finished third in the 100-meter and 200-meter races. He was just two hundredths of a second away from his personal best time in the 200. 

The Huskies competed on the track with athletes from the South division as well, but were only placed and scored against the North. 

“We ran well, our sprinters competed well,” Highland boys coach Nick Ehret said. 

 “It was great competition, but it’s good because we’re going to see a lot of these teams at districts next Thursday on this track, so it was good to kind of get a warm up for that.”

Jumping for the first time in over a month, Brenton Bonebrake equalled the best high jump of the season, tying for second place with a jump of 5-08. 

He jumped well for such a long layoff,” Ehret said. He’s still battling his calf injury, but he’s got great hops so I wasn’t surprised he jumped well.”

“Devin Lovetinsky threw well in the shot and the disc. He set PRs in both, so he’s continuing to improve throughout the year.” 

Lovetinksy finished third in the discus with a throw of 127-04.

“Our distance runner, Ethan Paisley, came back tonight and he’s getting back into it,” Ehret said. “He was a little out of shape, but he ran well in the two mile. Overall, it was a good night. 

Paisley also set a new personal record in that 3200-meter run with an eighth-place finish of 12:28. 

100-meter dash
8. Madeline Fox Hillcrest 15.44
10. Mackinze Hora Highland 15.86
13. Emma Slaughter Lone Tree 16.35
15. Ellas Buser Lone Tree 16.84
17. Maddie Peiffer Highland 18.04

200-meter dash
11. Lindsay Werbach Lone Tree 33.97
13. Lila Bell Lone Tree 35.02
14. Allison Golden Highland 35.72
15. Abby Pierson Highland 38.59

400-meter dash
3. Taylor Sublette Highland 1:09.38
12. Lilly Mills Lone Tree 1:19.07
13. Avery Pierson Highland 1:20.92

800-meter run
8. Emma Soukup Highland 3:11.18
9. Kamryn Bell Highland 3:16.87
11. Jordan Brown Lone Tree 3:31.29
12. Layla McMartin Lone Tree 3:31.47

110-meter hurdles
6. Addy Kleopfer Highland 19.74
8. Madeline Fox Hillcrest 20.14
11. Ellas Buser Lone Tree 22.42
12. Courtney Chalupa Highland 22.73

1500-meter run
3. Fiona Mahler Highland 6:13.14
7. Kylie Allen Highland 6:29.77

400-meter hurdles
5. Madeline Fox Hillcrest 1:23.04
7. Halle Hazelett Highland 1:33.25
8. Maddie Peiffer Highland 1:49.01

High jump
1. Kasey Chown Lone Tree 4-06

Long jump
1. Sarah Burton Highland 16-00.5
6. Katelyn Waters Highland 13-00
7. Avery Lisk Lone Tree 12-11.5

Shot put
8. Jessica Kraus Highland 28-03.25
11. Dani Pettitt Lone Tree 24-09.5
13. Bailey McGrew Lone Tree 23-00
15. Sarah Jiminez Hillcrest 15-08.5

4x100-meter relay
2. Highland (Smith, Burton, Waters, McFarland) 53.92
6. Lone Tree (Chown, Norris, McCullough, Lorack) 58.16

4x200-meter relay
2. Highland (Clarke, Burton, Waters, McFarland) 1:52. 86
6. Lone Tree (Chown, Norris, McCullough, Lorack) 2:05.65

4x400-meter relay
4. Highland (Sublette, Burton, Clarke, McFarland) 4:37.78

4x800-meter relay
4. Highland (Allen, Pierson, Soukup, Mahler) 12:28.81

Shuttle hurdle relay
3. Highland (Pierson, Hazelett, Chalupa, Kleopfer) 1:30.12

Sprint medley
4. Highland (Hora, Smith, McFarland, Waters) 2:03.86
6. Lone Tree (Slaughter, Franker, Mills, Lisk) 2:21.11

Distance medley
4. Lone Tree (Werbach, Franker, Lisk, Bell) 5:32.42
5. Highland (Smith, Hora, Bell, Roling) 5:41.91

100-meter dash
3. Connor Grinstead Highland 11.81
7. Alex Viner Lone Tree 12.08
9. Kyle Andersen Lone Tree 12.97
13. Quang Huynh Hillcrest 13.95
16. Andrew Starr Hillcrest 14.11

200-meter dash
3. Connor Grinstead Highland 23.71
9. Cade Shield Lone Tree 25.56
10. Jackson Schneider Highland 25.77
16. Braden Viers Lone Tree 30.26

400-meter dash
11. Braden Viers Lone Tree 1:07.66

800-meter run
7. Cale Christofferson Lone Tree 2:20.51
12. William Rockafellow Lone tree 2:30.55

110-meter hurdles
2. Aaron Hershberger Hillcrest 16.76
4. Alex Viner Lone Tree 17.31
12. Nicolas Oriano Highland 21.84

1600-meter run
6. Nick Staltzman Lone Tree 5:02.71
9. Alberto Cortes Lone Tree 5:16.35

3200-meter run
8. Ethan Paisley Highland 12:28.24

400-meter hurdles
1. Aaron Hershberger Hillcrest 59.01

Discus
3. Devin Lovetinsky Highland 127-04
13. Tyler Bell Lone Tree 87-08
14. William Rockafellow 63-05

High jump
3. Brenton Bonebrake Highland 5-08
6. Harry Brenneman Lone Tree 5-02

Long jump
7. Cade Shield Lone Tree 17-06.5
9. Alex Viner Lone Tree 17-05.5

Shot put
5. Devin Lovetinksy Highland 41-05.5
13. William Rockafellow Lone Tree 25-01.5

4x100-meter relay
2. Highland (Jepson, Day, Thompson, Grinstead) 45.94
6. Lone Tree (Hotz, Andersen, Barajas, Brenneman) 49.07
9. Hillcrest (Hershberger, Hughes, Huynh, Miller) 55.06

4x200-meter relay
2. Highland (Jepson, Bonebrake, Thompson, Grinstead) 1:36.41
7. Lone Tree (Hotz, Andersen, Barajas, Brenneman) 1:44.38
9. Hillcrest (Huynh, Starr, Kolck, Hughes) 1:47.62

4x400-meter relay
6. Lone Tree (Gauley, Patterson, Cortes, Shield) 3:50.84
8. Hillcrest (Hughes, Starr, Kolck, Miller) 4:12.63

4x800-meter relay
6. Lone Tree (Cortes, Birtcher, Rockafellow, Christofferson) 9:54.45

Shuttle hurdle relay
2. Lone Tree (Willoz, Barajas, Gauley, Patterson) 1:09.22
7. Hillcrest (Hughes, Miller, Kolck, Hershberger) 1:19.07
8. Highland (Schneider, Hoppman, Fowler, Oriano) 1:24.64

Sprint medley
3. Highland (Bonebrake, Day, Jepson, Thompson) 1:43.21
5. Lone Tree (Hotz, Patterson, Gauley, Willoz) 1:51.68
6. Hillcrest (Huynh, Starr, Kolck, Miller) 1:55.60

Distance medley
4. Lone Tree (Patterson, Viner, Shield, Staltzman) 3:57.91
8. Highland (Nester, Schneider, Hoppman, Paisley) 4:45.86