The Newark High track team is celebrating a successful season that saw many of its athletes break personal best marks.
Their first meet was at Plano High School on March 31, where the boys placed fifth out of six teams and the girls were able to finish third out of six teams.
While slightly disappointing, the results were still considered positive as the team was behind in conditioning. Many of the athletes also play baseball or softball, and conflicting practice times often led to team members missing track practice, though the baseball and softball coaches tried to have their track athletes run sprints to stay conditioned.
As the season went on, several team members broke personal bests in time, distance or height, which was a focus for the teams this season.
At the Yorkville meet, the 4x800 relay team (consisting of Remington Kempiak, Kyle Scott, Antoine Dalle and Chance Weismiller) broke their personal record by 10 seconds.
At a girls-only meet in Oregon, eight girls competed for Newark and each one broke a personal record in at least one event.
At the girls Illinois High School Association Sectional, held at Seneca High School on May 13, Newark placed sixth out of 15 teams. Though none of the athletes managed to qualify for state competition, Kylie Eike won third place in pole vault at a mark of 7 feet, 9 inches, missing second place by just 1 inch.
The team has managed all this success despite not having its own track to practice at, using facilities at Cross Lutheran as well as just measuring out distances in the community.
Next season, the team plans to institute stricter practice attendance policies to avoid issues with conflicts with other practices and get more quality out of each practice.
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