GUILDERLAND — The four track-and-field athletes who were named All Americans at a national competition this month most often used the word “love” — not “pain” or “discipline” — to describe their relationship to their sport.

Sophomore Kendall Barnhart and senior Kate Sclanlan both used the phrase “falling in love” when they described the joy of track.

“When I was younger, I was forced to run by my parents,” said Scanlan in this week’s Enterprise podcast. Her mother expressed the belief, “You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

“I think that’s very true,” said Scanlan. “You have to get past the pain and you’re going to be like, OK, this workout is going to feel awful, and I might vomit afterwards. But it is a feeling like no other, like when you finish a race … and you go, wow, I just did that.”

Barnhart, on the other hand, said, when she first started track, her parents knew nothing about the sport.

She started as a student in Coach Christopher Scanlan’s gym class, she said, and, with his encouragement, decided to give running a try.

Once Barnhart got into track, she said, her parents did, too, and then her younger sister “fell in love with jumping, which she’s very good at,” Barnhart said.

The team of four girls — Barnhart, Scanlan, Maeghan Hickey, and Parker Steele — placed third in the 4x55m Shuttle Hurdle Relay at the New Balance Nationals, held in New York City from March 11 to 13.

They finished the relay in 34.99 seconds, placing them fourth in the United States and first in New York — while also breaking their school record and the Section 2 record.

This is Scanlan’s third time, and Barnhart’s second time being named All American.

“We’ve competed at the armory before and we love that track,” said Scanlan, “but there is definitely something special about the atmosphere of being at nationals, just knowing that everyone there has worked so hard and that it was literally the best kids in the entire nation.”

Senior Maeghan Hickey who, like Scanlan, has been on the Guilderland track team since she was in seventh grade, said, “I think we’re all just super motivated and it was our last meet of the season.” She also said, “I think we really excelled in this race because we have four amazing hurdlers and not a lot of teams do.”

Coach Scanlan said the team had been building for years and the hard work paid off.

Because of pandemic restrictions, there was no indoor track season last year. “We kind of made up our own and we did it outside in the cold, in the snow, only racing each other,” he said. So this year, the coach said, “We really felt like we were back … and all of the athletes on the team just really put a lot of energy into everything they did.”

Both Kate Scanlan, who plans to study neurobiology as a pre-med student, and Hickey, who wants to become a speech pathologist, will run Division 1 track in college next year. They think the track teams at college will give them a ready-made group of friends.

On the high school team, the girls say, they have formed deep bonds not only with their own team members but with competitors.

Coach Scanlan explains that track is a team sport not just because individual scores are merged but because the athletes who spend six, seven, or eight hours together at meets cheer for each other and help each other through anxieties and rough times. “It’s not like a 45-minute game and then it’s over,” he said.

Parker Steele, who also plays soccer, said she likes track because “we’re not fighting each other for playing time or getting jealous because we’re on the bench.”

Coach Scanlon said his team members feel comfortable telling him when he hasn’t pushed them hard enough or if he’s pushed them too hard and that each individual athlete can feel good about what she has accomplished for herself rather than because she has bested another.

“They all know what they need to do to get better,” he said.

At the same time, Kate Scanlan said she has become good friends with some of her school’s competitors — girls she has seen year after year. “In other sports, the other team can almost be pitted as an enemy whereas, if I know I’m running against someone who, even if they’re faster than me, I know they can push me.”

She said of her track friends from other schools, “Sometimes, we hang out outside of just track. It’s a bond that I don’t see in any other sports, and it’s one of those things that I love.”

Hickey said, “I love track and I love these girls, and I’m really excited for the outdoor season, and I’m kind of sad because it’s my last one.”

Barnhart concluded, “Overall, I’m just so thankful to be part of this community.”

Coach Scanlan said he was pleased to hear the girls speak of their love of the sport. “All the awards and records and All Americans and all that stuff is the icing on the cake,” he said. “To us, the most important thing is to build a love for our sport.”
 

Stand-out GHS team

Guilderland track and field had the most team members ever to compete at Nationals this year: 17 athletes took part in 13 different events. 

In addition to placing third in the 4x55m Shuttle Hurdle Relay, the four All American althletes also competed in these events:

— Kendall Barnhart, 10th grade, Girls’ 4x200m Relay, Girls’ 200m, and Girls’ Championship 4x400m Relay;

— Maeghan Hickey, 12th grade, Girls’ 4x200m Relay and Girls 60m Hurdles;

— Kate Scanlan, 12th grade, Girls’ Championship 400m, Girls’ Championship 200m, and Girls’ 4x400m Championship Relay; and

— Parker Steele, 8th grade, Girls’ 60m Hurdles and Girls’ 4x400m Championship Relay.

The other Guilderland athletes who qualified and competed at Nationals are:

— Maxine Alpart, 11th grade, Girls’ 4x800 Relay; 

— Kirsten Barnhart, 9th grade, Triple Jump; 

— Cadence Brewer, 12th grade, Girls’ Championship Weight Throw and Shot Put;

— Finn Burke, 11th grade, Boys’ Distance Medley Relay;

— Will Cusato, 12th grade, Boys’ Championship 800m and Boys’ Distance Medley Relay;

— Nicholas Darrigo, 12th grade, Boys’ Distance Medley Relay;

— Aakash Iyer, 10th grade, Boys’ Distance Medley Relay;

— Avery Kerr, 10th grade, Girls’ 4x800 Relay;

— Alexa Kosier, 9th grade, Girls’ 4x800 Relay and Girls’ 4x400m Championship Relay;

— Elizabeth Liu, 11th grade, Triple Jump;

— Willow Novak, 12th grade, Girls’ 4x200m Relay, Girls’ 200m, Girls’ Championship 4x400m Relay;

— Megan Swan, 11th grade, Girls’ 4x200m Relay; and

— Emma Wendt, 11th grade, Girls’ 4x800m relay.