CHAMPAIGN - Bloomington-Normal high school track and field fans, hungry for excitement, were served a feast in the 82nd annual Big 12 Conference Meet on Thursday.

Entrees included three Pantagraph area records, two meet records and six revisions to the area all-time honor roll.

The icing on the cake for Bloomington was a defense of its title, a feat no Purple Raider squad had ever accomplished.

"Overall, I think it was a great team effort," said BHS coach John Szabo, whose squad scored in 13 of the 18 events. "We double-placed in some of those."

BHS tallied 119 points followed by Champaign Centennial (99), Normal Community (91) and Normal West (90).

Junior Tyler Sipes did his part for BHS with an area record of 38.25 seconds in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, breaking the 1989 mark of 38.3 set by Pontiac's Chris Fowler.

"It was the first time all year I didn't stutter on the first hurdle," Sipes said. "That was the fastest second half of the race I've had."

Sipes preceded that triumph with the fastest fully automatic time (FAT) in area history in the 110 high hurdles of 14.46. The old FAT area record was 14.47 by Iroquois West's Brant Schmid in 2001.

"I felt off balance a little bit," Sipes said. "It feels like when you are more out of control, you run a better time than when you are in control."

Controlling Normal West's Cory Nanni proved impossible.

The Duke-bound senior swept the 800 (1:56.46), 1,600 (4:20.62) and 3,200 (10:06.96), a distance triple no one had won since the two-mile was added to the meet in 1967.

"It was for the team to get as many points as we can," said Nanni, who had never attempted such a triple before. His efforts helped Normal West set a school record for Big 12 points.

Nanni's 4:20.62 broke the meet record of 4:21.9 set by Clint Kaeb of BHS in 1994. His 1:56.46 was a career best and a necessity considering Ben Nathan of BHS ran a personal best of 1:56.80 in second.

"We were pushing each other," said Nanni, who tabbed the 800 the most difficult of his wins.

Blain Peckmann of NCHS pushed himself down the pole vault runway like a knight in a joust. The Ironmen star rode his fiberglass lance over a meet record 15 feet, 3 inches, breaking the 1999 mark of 15-2 set by Decatur MacArthur's Mike Harbeck.

"It was probably one of the better jumps I've ever done, especially in a meet," said Peckmann of the No. 4 clearance in area history.

The Illinois-Chicago recruit, whose previous best was 14-11, missed three times at a school record 15-7.

The school record did not elude the NCHS 800 relay, which won in 1:29.55, the top FAT mark in area history. Only three manual times by BHS are better on the area's all-time list.

Manning the baton were Brent Ross, 100 champion Alex Martin (11.33), Melvin Hicks and triple jump champion Maxim Bakana (46-2½).

"We worked on our handoffs all week," Martin said.

"It was a long time coming," added Ross.

"We've been fighting for this all year," agreed Hicks.

"We're not done," cautioned Bakana. "This time is going to drop."

BHS dropped its season best in the 1,600 relay to 3:22.56, which ranks third in school history and seventh in area history. Passing the baton were Greg Patton (50.9), Sipes (50.6), Justin Bocot (51.2) and Darian Davis (50.0).

"If we could have improved a couple handoffs, we could have had (the school record of 3:21.0 from 1987)," said Szabo, who saw Bocot pop a season best of 21-8 to win the long jump.

Davis, the two-time champion in the 200 and the reigning 400 champion, only competed in relays. His 400 relay won in 43.34, the No. 6 FAT time in area history, with help from Sipes, Bocot and open 400 champion Marcus McGee (50.11).

Rounding out the area winners was the Normal West 3,200 relay (8:17.25) of Jesse Holliger (2:01.0), Matt Sullivan (2:03.2), Steve Ross (2:05.8) and Brant Basting (2:07.5).