Former Wawasee hurdler and Ball State football player Clayton Cook will transfer to Indiana University to run track.

BLOOMINGTON — Wawasee High School graduate Clayton Cook will soon be running track at Indiana University.

Cook, a 2015 graduate of Wawasee, signed with Ball State to play football last February but will be continuing his athletic career as a member of the Hoosier track and field team. Cook was designated a redshirt during his first season on campus for Ball State and did not play. The Cardinals head football coach, Pete Lembo, resigned earlier this month to take an assistant’s position at the University of Maryland.

On the track, Cook claimed an IHSAA state championship in the 110 hurdles this past spring while running for Wawasee.

Cook’s track career at Wawasee was as decorated as any in the program’s history, culminating with a state title. Cook won the 110-meter hurdles at the 2015 IHSAA State Finals in a time of 13.99, one of the top times in state history. Cook did not lose a 110 race his entire senior season, gathering Northern Lakes Conference, sectional and regional titles before the state championship.

As a 110 hurdler, Cook won three NLC, three sectional, one regional and three state places. In the 300 hurdles, Cook won an NLC title as a junior, and in the 200 dash, he won two NLC titles, a sectional title as a senior and finished in eighth place at state as a senior. Cook garnered three individual All-NLC honors along the way.

Cook also holds all four class records at Wawasee in both the 100 and 200 dashes as well as both school records (10.93/21.76) and is part of the quartet that set the 4×100 relay record at 42.72.

Debating whether to take on football with Ball State or track at Indiana, as the Hoosiers took a crack at recruiting Cook during his run at the state finals this past June, Cook decided to keep his commitment to Lembo and Ball State he made in February of 2015. The coach’s departure, along with Cook’s heart still on the track, made the transfer decision complete.

“All I can say is that I’m very excited and I’m very happy about the decision!” Cook stated Wednesday morning, hours after his mother, Peggy, posted a Facebook status announcing Clayton was making the move official with a visual of the transcript acceptance.

Cook will be eligible to begin running with the Hoosiers in the next month. No specific designation of Cook’s involvement with the Hoosiers was immediately made public by the track program.