On Saturday June 6, the BHSN Boys’ Track and Field team made history by winning its first ever Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) State Championship. After finishing the 2024-25 season as the runner up at the state championship meet, the North team entered the 2026 season with the goal to win first place.
Due to lightning in the area, the meet was delayed multiple times and the stadium was cleared out twice. The first delay took place before the 100 meter hurdles and was delayed by over an hour. After lightning was spotted right before the open 1600 meter race the meet was delayed again, starting back up around 9:10 p.m. Due to weather, the end of the meet was delayed by almost two hours, not ending until 11:30 p.m.
For most of the night, North sat in second place, but eventually took over first place by three points thanks to multiple top place finishes. In the field events Adis Hamidovic (12) placed fourth in the state with a throw of 185 feet in discus. Quinn Walters (10) also competed in the discus event and threw 153 feet 8 inches placing 45th.
On the track the BHSN distance team secured their fourth consecutive state title in the 3200 meter relay. The relay was run by Caelan D’Onfrio (12), Jacob Gentry (12), Shep Jackson (10), and Caleb Winders (12) with a time of 7:38.87. Jackson said, “Winning the 4×8 this year was a great experience to be a part of. Going in I was asked to lead off and put our team in a good position for Caelan and Caleb to close it out. I was honored to be a part of the 4×8 because it was our fourth time winning in a row and doing it for the other three seniors on that relay was really special.”
In the 1600 meter relay, Kellan Bishop (12), James Bosco (11), RaShon English (11), and Winders ran a time of 3:21.88 securing 12th place. Josiah Powell (12) ran a 10.84 in the 100 meter dash, and 22.29 in the 200 meter dash. Winders obtained his second individual state championship title in the open 800 meter race with a time of 1:49.36 and gained 10 points for the North team. D’Onfirio ran the open 1600 meter race with a time of 4:08.53 ranking fourth in the state and breaking the previous BHSN school record of 4:12.28 held by Winders. Bosco ran 48.43 in the open 400 meter dash gaining five points for the BHSN team and ranking ninth in the state.
The three point lead marked the first ever IHSAA State Championship title for Bloomington North and secured their spot as the first school from Bloomington to win in 122 years. “Winning state was a great moment overall not just for the team and myself but mainly the coaches,” Jackson said. “We have a lot of our coaching staff retiring this year, notably Coach Warthan and Coach Hamidovic so ending the track season with a team state title meant a lot for me to do it for them.”
