The boys and girls track teams crushed personal records and placed third at the annual Gus Scott Co-Ed Invitational on Friday, April 17. Naperville North hosted and welcomed 10 schools for the meet.

With both teams doing exceptionally well in the distance runs, the boys finished their night with 338.5 points and the girls with 377. Jim O’Connell, head coach for the boys track and field team, said the team had the perfect mindset to expand their abilities on Friday.

“If you’re talking about mentality, I think it just comes down to how you want to be better,” O’Connell said. “Are you dedicated? Are wanting to get better every day of every week? If you are, then your mentality is in the right place, and you’ll perform. I think that’s what we saw tonight.”

The girls started the night dominant on relays, finishing the two-mile on top with 9:39.23. They continued their success by taking second in the 800m relay, shaving three seconds from their previous record. Freshman sprinter Saffilla Allie took charge in the 400m dash and claimed first with a time of 1:00.05.

Sophomore Claire Hamilton was able to finish the 2-mile race in first with 10:59.76, followed by freshman Sara Schmitt (11:02.64) and Hamilton’s senior teammate and sister, Emily (11:05.63). Also showing her prowess was junior Judy Pendergast, who took second in the 1600m with a new personal record of 4:56.53. According to girls head coach Joanna Wilson, the ladies were dropping times at every corner.

The boys team celebrated similar successes, according to senior Kerry Gschwendtner. Having earned a two-mile personal record of 9:30.92, the veteran distance runner was thrilled by his team’s success on Friday.

“As a team, this has really been our best performance so far,” Gschwendtner said. “Everyone has been pretty solid, and there are personal records all over the place. We’re constantly making improvements, and to see our guys where they are at right now, that’s awesome.”

On the track, the boys took the distance runs to their limits. With Gschwendtner claiming the 3200m victory, senior Andrew Ladeur was able to take second in B-flight, falling less than a second behind the winner. For the 1600m, senior Jonathan Klaiber garnered a time of 4:25.44, placing second in the A-Flight. Gschwendtner was also able to take first in the 800m C-flight, tying his previous personal record at 2:01.04.

In the field, many impressive performances were seen from all athletes. Senior thrower Tyler Bushman threw discus and shot-put for the B-Flight, taking second and first place respectively. In the A flight, senior Matt Frey threw discus for third place with a distance of 144-03. For sophomore Elise Chao, qualifying for state is a repeated accomplishment. She surpassing the required distance with 35-8.50 on triple jump.

Senior Mark Egan ended the field events for the Huskies. All track events had finished minutes before, and the crowd’s attention switched rapidly to the pole vault. Clearing the state-qualifying height of 14 feet, Egan was able to win the A-flight with a cheering audience to support him.

“It was really the hype that got to me,” Egan said. “There was quite a few people just sitting around and watching me. I felt pretty hyped about that, and it sent me over 14 feet today.”