In a sport like track, a tenth of a second can mean the difference between winning it all and losing everything. In this case, the LT boys’ varsity track 4x800m team shattered the previously held school record of 7:57.6 by coming in with 7:56.29.

However, despite preparation and planning, there can always be problems on race day. Vincent Zona ‘17 hurt his ankle during warm ups prior to the race.

“We do blow out 400s before the race as a relay team, and I slipped in mud and rolled my ankle,” Zona said. “It was the fifth time that I’ve rolled that ankle. It hasn’t really healed, because I keep running on it. I was trying to focus on doing my best to keep us in it during the race.”

Even with this setback, the team managed to rally, and Zona kept his coach’s projected time of two minutes flat for his 800m.

With high expectations and times to meet, Connor Madell ‘16 began the first leg of the 4x800m run at the 12th annual Mustangs Relays Indoor Invitational held at North Central College. Ben Gawthrop ‘15 was second leg, Zona third, and Alex Lima ‘15 finished the race, leaving the Lions in third place behind the previous first and second place teams in state last year, Carl Sandburg High School and Neuqua Valley High School.

“We were happy with our time, but not with our position,” Madell said. “Last year at this meet we ran 8:01.”

The boys have been consistently dropping time throughout the season. Their first meet together as a relay team, they ran 8:16, which they then beat at their second meet with a time of 8:03 dropping yet again at North Central with the new school record. They are looking to beat 7:55 for the indoor conference on March 21.

“We want to make the record unbeatable.” Gawthrop said.

The boys’ ultimate goal is to get their time down to 7:39 by state for outdoor track, rivaling the state record of 7:40 last year and the long held school record of 7:35 set by the former Principal, David Franson, Zona said.

“If we look back at LT’s history, generally most teams greatly improve their times from indoor to outdoor,” Lima said. “We plan to do that too and hope to break more records.”