On April 18 and 19, the North track and field team competed at the KU Relays.

According to senior Ben Burchstead, “it was one of the best showings [North has had] at KU in a long time.”

Burchstead competed in one of the long-distance relays, the 3200 meter race.

“I was only a few seconds away from beating the school record in the 3200,” Burchstead said. “I just have to follow my routine and get stronger.”

Junior Sada Kernodle also competed in the girls 3200 meter relay, breaking the school record for the event.

“I was so excited when I broke my personal record and that I beat the former record by seven seconds,” Kernodle said. “I can’t even describe [the feeling]. It was like this weight [was lifted] off my shoulders all of a sudden. It just had been dragging me down for a while, for a long time, and it just felt really good.”

Kernodle had worked for this moment for three years, ever since she joined track as a freshman.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Head Track Coach Aaron Davidson said. “I guess all the times that she was close and missed it, it was worth it to actually do it that day. All that build up made it all that much more special the day that it actually did go down. As far future goals, I would say she definitely wants the mile [record] so we’re going to try to go after that one next.”

While working towards breaking the mile record, Kernodle is beginning to look even farther into the future.

“I’m focusing a lot on looking for colleges,” Kernodle said. “I’m definitely going to run in college and so getting faster and making a name for myself [are what I’m looking forward to for the rest of the season].”

Overall, Davidson felt that the meet was a great opportunity for the track team and will help them down the road.

“As a team, I just thought [KU Relays] was a great rehearsal for being on a big stage and knowing what it’s like to up against high caliber competition,” Davidson said, “so that once we get to State, we’re not really nervous. We know we qualified for Finals in all the sprint events. We went in there and represented ourselves well. We weren’t scared. We weren’t intimidated by anybody so I’m happy about that.”