CHERRY TWP — Jake Patton is headed to Earlham College, where he is being counted on to help elevate the track and field program there.

Before he leaves, he hopes to lower a few track and field records at Moniteau.

A senior hurdler and 4x400 meter relay participant with the Warriors, Patton has his sights set on breaking all three of those school records.

“That's the plan,” he said. “I'm real close in both hurdles and our 4x4 only needs to replace one runner — but that's a pretty good runner.”

Patton ran the 4x400 last season with Steven Fawcett, Manny McLean and Dalton Anderson. The latter is now participating in track and field at Westminster College.

“That relay only missed the record by a couple of seconds last year,” Moniteau coach Pat Rumbaugh said. “We're looking for that fourth runner now.

“There's a few candidates who may be able to help get them there.”

Regardless, Patton is likely headed for a big senior track season. He recently qualified for Sunday's Pennslyvania Indoor Championships in the 60-meter hurdles.

He hopes to be in for a strong collegiate career at Earlham, a Division III school in Richmond, Ind.

The Quakers have been struggling in track in recent years. Claire and Rob Hewitt are in their second year as husband-wife co-head coaches with the program, which had only 26 combined male and female athletes last season.

The team did not have a male hurdler listed on its spring roster in 2017.

“I got a recruiting letter from there, saw the school is in the process of making the program competitive again and decided to go check it out,” Patton said. “It's a nice school and I'm excited about what I might be able to do there.”

Carrying a 3.3 grade point average at Moniteau, Patton plans to major in engineering.

He qualified for the PIAA meet in the 110 and 300-meter huddles last spring, along with the 4x400 relay. Patton placed second in the 300 hurdles at the District 9 Championships.

“They're thinking Jake can break their 110 hurdle record by his sophomore year,” Rumbaugh said. “They're trying to rebuild the program out there and they're using him to start with.

“He made a great choice of college. I think he's going to have himself a great career there.”

Patton's best time in the 300 hurdles is 40.94 seconds, only four/tenth's of a second off the school record set by Zach Thompson in 2006.

Patton's best time in the 110 hurdles is 15.43 seconds, .22 of a second away from the record set by Vance Farren in 2005.

“I want both of those records. It will be disappointing if I don't get them,” Patton said.

Earlham competes in the Heartland Conference. Patton is receiving some academic scholarship money from the school.

He said the alumni “are very supportive about turning the program around.

“I want to be part of a team that wins the conference out there,” Patton added.

Rumbaugh said Patton should continue to flourish in the hurdles at the collegiate level.

“Jake is built to be a hurdler,” he said. “He's got the combination of speed and flexibility. You have to have an animal attitude to succeed in that event and he's got that, too.

“A hurdler has to attack that event, just go at it. Jake has that fearlessness about him.”