King’s Fork High School’s outdoor track and field team hosted an outdoor meet on Wednesday in which they performed well.

It was the first outdoor meet the Bulldogs had hosted in several years and the last meet before the Bulldogs head into the post season. The boys’ and girls’ relay teams had very good performances at home. Both 400-meter relay teams ran times that currently rank among the top five in 4A.

More than 20 athletes hit new personal records. Senior Lawrence Smith won the 400-meter with 49.78, a time that puts him in the top five among Group 4A 400-meter runners at this point in the season. Also, Shamond Smith, a sophomore, ran a personal best 1:58.44 in the 800-meter and set a new school record.

“I think the kids gained extra motivation from being at home and having a very vocal and supportive crowd cheering for them,” King’s Fork coach Shawn Warren said. “We had some benchmark times that we wanted the kids to hit Wednesday, and for the most part we met or exceeded expectations. That’s a strong indicator that we’re on the right track in regards to our training and that we’ll be peaking during the championship portion of our schedule.”

Heading into the postseason, the goals for the Bulldogs are very straightforward. They want to go into conference, regional and state competition establishing a strong King’s Fork presence. The athletes have been eager to participate in meets, because it gives them a chance to show their progression.

“We want to score as many points as we can when the meets are over,” Warren said. “We want to have people know that King’s Fork was there.”

Because King’s Fork relay teams have been successful for much of the outdoor season, that gives them options for the postseason. They have different lineups and runners to choose from due to a high number of athletes qualifying for regional and state competition.

Warren can see that his team has progressed from the indoor season to the outdoor season. It is used mostly to put a solid foundation into place for the outdoor season, and it looks like it has started to pay off.

One individual who has really stood out this season to Warren is sophomore Joel Iglesias. Iglesias showed signs of promise indoors, but has really started to blossom this spring and has turned into one of King’s Fork’s most versatile runners. He has run everything from the 100-meter all the way up to 800-meter and fared well. He’s qualified for the state 4A meet in the 100, 200 and 400 and runs on both state qualifying relays.

King’s Fork will participate in the Conference 17 championships May 19 at Wilson High School.