A long-standing state record was not only broken, but shattered by
Southern Boone County's Connor Burns.
The junior ran the 3,200-meter run in 8 minutes, 48.76 seconds to not only win the Class 3 championship but break both the Class 3 and overall state meet record in the event.
That was one of many highlights from the Class 3 boys race held at the MSHSAA Track and Field Championships the final weekend of May.
Burns battled with El Dorado Springs' Daelen Ackley throughout the race and the two were first and second all eight laps. Burns' performance moved him up to 13th on the high school season performance list along with breaking the Class 3 and overall state meet records.
The latter had stood since 2017 when Austin Hindman of Lafayette (Wildwood) ran 8:54.23.
The older record was
the Class 3 mark set by Willard's Jason Pyrah in 1987 of 9:07.48.
He set the Class 3 state meet record in both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs that year.
But, Ackley's time of 8:59.47 would've also been good enough for a meet record had it not been for Burns.
Connor Burns scorched the track in the 3200 with an overall meet record of 8:48.76, while Daelen Ackley also went Sub-9 with an 8:59.47.
Read more about the Class 3 boys meet on the next page