Ege wins 3 events, Burlington Central wins 5th straight BNC title

The Burlington Central boys track and field team didn't just win the Big Northern Conference championship Thursday night, the Rockets ran away with it on their home track.

Winning a total of 10 events, including three titles from Stanford-bound Lucas Ege, BC rolled up 171 points to win its fifth straight conference crown. Johnsburg was second with 94 points.

Ege, the defending state 300-meter hurdles champion, won that event as well as the 110 hurdles and the 200-meter dash. He came up just short of taking home four first-place medals by finishing second in the 100.

Ege ran the 300 hurdles in 41.20 and the 110s in 15.36 on a less than stellar night to run weather-wise. He clocked a 22.82 in winning the 200.

Others winning conference titles for the Rockets included Clay Musial (3,200 in 9:53.74), Nick Harvey (800 in 2:00.39), Kyle Neubauer (400 in 50.61), Dionte Smith (triple jump, 44-01) and Zach Gorman (discus, 137-08). BC also took first in the 400 relay (45.28) and the 1,600 relay (3:30.51).

The Rockets ran without sprinters Jason Berango and Trevor Davison, who were held out while nursing injuries.

"If we get them back we'll be looking good," said Central coach Mike Schmidt, whose team will compete in the Class 2A Sterling sectional next Friday. "If we get healthy, we'll be tough to beat."