BURLINGTON — Austin Deer continued his phenomenal track and field season in style on Thursday in Burlington at the Southern Coffey County Invitational.
The Marmaton Valley High sprinter has been rewriting the school record books each time he steps to the track. Thursday was no different as he won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes over the 16-team field in Burlington.
“He broke (the record) again today,” Marmaton Valley coach Steve Smith said. “He may just continue to do that.”
In the 100, Deer was the only athlete in the field to crack the 11-second mark with a time of 10.93 seconds. In the 200, he was victorious with a time of 23.03.
“Austin has been focused,” Marmaton Valley assistant coach Dan Uhlrich said. “He’s been working his butt off in practice and it is paying off and that is what it takes. He is focused right now and he wants to do even more.
“He is a natural talent… and he maximizes everything he has.”
Deer’s teammate Brady Newman also picked up a first-place finish by winning the high jump with a 6 feet, 2 inch leap.
“He is consistent,” Smith said. “We focus a lot in practice about him making a maximum height without a miss and he focus on that and it helps him win.”
Southern Coffey County’s Chonnor Ludolph led the other local athletes by landing a pair of first-place medals. Ludolph swept the hurdles events with a 43.96 in the 300 meters and a 16.4 in the 110 meters.
Crest’s top performer on the boy’s side was Evan Godderz. He took second in the javelin with a 151’7”.
“Evan was disappointed in his javelin,” Crest coach Alan Newton said. “He has broken 150 feet three meets in a row, but he had two scratches where he threw in the 165-feet range. It is just bad luck”
Deer and Newman helped Marmaton Valley to a fifth-place finish in the team standings. Southern Coffey County took eighth while Crest finished the day in 10th.
ON THE GIRLS’ side, Southern Coffey County’s Adina Ratzlaff was able to take a pair of top finishes.
Ratzlaff finished first in both the 200- and 400-meter dashes. Her 200 time was 27.28 seconds while she finished the 400 in 1:03.
“I was pleased with our boys and girls both,” Titan coach Jeff True said. “Our times have been coming down and our distances have been getting better in the throws. All-in-all I’m pretty pleased.”
