Ever since he started competing in the 400-meter dash in his freshman year, Jacer Brower has been successful, getting 10 top-4 finishes, including six victories.

Now, the Montgomery County sophomore is the school’s record holder in the event.

Brower ran a school-record time of 52.08 seconds in his first-place victory in the 400 at the Montgomery County Invitational on April 19 at Jim Blacklock Field. He broke the old mark of 52.14 seconds that was set by Jerad Jordan in 2014.

Brower defeated teammate and freshman Jadrian Thurmon by over a second. Thurmon finished in 53.69 seconds.

“Doing it here at home was awesome,” Brower said. “I like to put on a show. Crossing the finish line, I definitely knew that I broke it.”

Brower finished with four medals at the Montgomery County Invitational. He also helped the 3,200-meter relay team — which also included Thurmon and seniors Dawson McCown and Gavin Mendoza — pick up a win with an 8:50.06. He also got a second-place medal in the 4x400 and a fifth-place medal in the 200.

The effort helped the Wildcats finish second in the 15-team boys meet with 138 points. Bowling Green won the meet with 162 points.

MCHS also got wins from McCown (1,600), senior Ty Leu (long jump) and freshman Tyler Erwin (high jump) and the 4x100 team of Leu, Mendoza and juniors Adam Czerniewski and Dominic Lutrell in the boys division.

The Wildcats finished third in the girls division with 83.5 points. They got wins from the 4x800 team of senior Makenna Schmidt, junior Lyric Ford and sophomores Malia Rodgers and Claire Cobb, Ford (1,600) and Rodgers (3,200).

Brower is one of several MCHS athletes who broke a school record this season. The others were Ford in the girls 3,200, senior Thomas Klekamp in the boys javelin, Olivia Shaw in the girls 200 and the 4x800 team of Schmidt, Ford, Rodgers and Cobb.

Brower came close to breaking the school mark in two other meets this season. He ran 52.19 seconds in the Holt Invitational on April 2 and 52.25 seconds at the Bowling Green Mini-Medal meet three days later.

“I was four-tenths of a second off in the first meet,” Brower said. “The second meet, I was eight-tenths of a second off. I’ve been all around it so far this season. Today, it was finally it.”

Last year, Brower enjoyed a fabulous freshman season in the 400 that included three victories and a trip to the sectional meet in the 4x400.

But he was upset that he didn’t advance out of districts in the 400. He placed fifth with a 53.39 in the District 4 meet at MCHS, one place shy of a sectional berth.

“It hurt a lot,” Brower said. “The worst part was I tied my PR and it didn’t do any better. It was kind of tough, but I got bigger things (to do) this year and two more years to do better."

With his record-setting win at the Montgomery County Invitational, Brower now has three victories in the 400 this season. He also came out on top in the Bowling Green and Owensville meets.

The sophomore won the 400 at the Montgomery County Invitational for the second year in a row. Last spring, he placed first in 54.41 seconds.

Brower said he was looking forward to competing in the Montgomery County Invitational, which is one of the Wildcats’ biggest meets of the year.

“I’ve been waiting for this meet,” Brower said. “Finally, there was no wind. It was a decent night. It was a perfect day.”