Columbus East High School

The Columbus East Olympian boys track and field team competed Thursday evening in the Hoosier Hills Conference Championships hosted by Jennings County High School, finishing seventh overall with 62 team points against a strong conference field. The highlight of the night for the Olympians came from junior distance standout Norman Dickson, who captured the Hoosier Hills Conference championship in the 3200-meter run. Dickson crossed the finish line in a winning time of 9:55.77 to earn the conference crown and lead the East effort. He also added another strong performance in the 1600-meter run, placing fourth in 4:36.16. Columbus East also dominated the high jump competition, as Keaton Lawson cleared 6-2 to earn the conference title, while teammate Ryder Meek matched the same height to finish runner-up on attempts. The Olympians scored valuable points in the event with the impressive 1-2 finish. Luke Warren turned in a productive evening for East in multiple events. Warren placed fourth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.39 and added a fifth-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles in 43.24. He also competed in the long jump, finishing 10th. The Olympians received another podium performance from the 4x100-meter relay team, which placed third overall with a time of 44.13. In sprint action, Deonte Study qualified for the finals in the 100-meter dash and finished eighth overall after running 11.43 in the preliminaries. Blake Moss also reached the finals and placed seventh overall. Study additionally competed in the 200-meter dash, narrowly missing the finals with a ninth-place prelim finish. Other scoring efforts for the Olympians included Evan Simo’s fifth-place finish in the discus with a throw of 124-1 and the 4x400-meter relay team placing fifth in 3:38.33. The 4x800-meter relay squad added a sixth-place finish. Lorren Westerfeld finished ninth in the 1600-meter run, while Elijah Clore earned ninth in the 3200-meter run. Ethan Glick competed in the 400-meter dash, while Liam Witsey and Eli Ostrum represented East in the 800-meter run. The Olympians will now shift their focus toward postseason competition as they prepare for next week’s sectional meet which takes place on Thursday, May 21st starting at 5:30 p.m., hosted by Columbus North High School.