We’re continuing our KCII Top 10 Countdown of the biggest area high school sports stories of 2022-2023. At number 2 is Columbus boys’ track & field taking second place as a team at the Class 1A state championships.

The Wildcats scored 52 points, just eight behind champion Lisbon, and finished with eight individual medalists as well as two relay teams that finished in the top eight over three days of competition, May 18th through the 20th, on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines.

The weekend at Drake Stadium was a stellar final showcase for Triston Miller. The Columbus senior won the state championship in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing the finals in a time of 14.35 seconds. Miller set a new Class 1A state record when he ran his prelims race in 14.12 seconds.

Miller also took second place in the high jump, leaping six feet six inches but seeing New London’s Kade Benjamin clear the bar one inch higher. And, if that wasn’t enough, Miller also took part in two relay teams.

Along with fellow senior Jeff Hoback, junior Kaden Amigon and sophomore Riley Kaalberg, Miller and the ‘Cats briefly set a new 1A state record by completing the four-by-100-meter relay in 42.69 seconds during prelims. They ran the relay even faster in the finals, but their time of 42.42 was still three-tenths of a second behind Lisbon.

Miller joined Kaalberg, Dante Zuniga and Alexander Rees to earn third place in the shuttle hurdles relay, while Amigon was also third in the 200 meters and the long jump. Amigon’s fourth medal of the weekend was a seventh-place finish in the 100, while Hoback was eighth. Junior Russell Coil added medals for taking fifth in the discus and eighth in the shot put.

Columbus began its season by winning the 1A division of the IATC Indoor Championships and won every meet they participated in, bringing home championships in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North and at districts in the process.

The countdown of Top 10 area sports stories will conclude with the number-one spot tomorrow. Find other stories from the countdown at KCIIradio.com.