Bears bring home medals from state track meet
By Anne Marie Kyzer annemariek@thetruecitizen.com

Every Bear that Burke County sent to the state meet came home with at least one medal dangling from his neck.

The Burke County High School boys sent three track and field athletes to Albany last weekend for the Georgia High School Association's AAA state meet and claimed four top-eight finishes.

Junior Damion Johnson fin- ished third in the long jump with his 23 feet, 1 ¼ inches.

Senior Damany Coleman picked up two medals in the hurdles. He ran 14.78 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles, good enough for fourth place, and his personal best of 39.55 seconds in the 300 hurdles for a sixthplace finish.

Junior Bobby Burum placed eighth in the high jump with a height of 6 feet, 4 inches.

"These guys worked really hard and for them to compete at such a high level speaks volumes about them," Burke County coach Purvis Dukes said. "The state meet this year was amazing. Damion had the chance to compete against the top long and triple jump athlete in the nation."

Coach Dukes added that Coleman's performances in hurdle events caught the eye of several college coaches and could earn him a chance to compete at the next level.