On April 15, Colette Zidek ’23, Sarah Kenvin ’23, Riley Savage ’25, and Ella Kaplan ’25 broke the school record for the sprint medley relay. Unique to the Hill Relays, the event isn’t given much practice time. However, the team performed incredibly well and beyond expectations, for an annual event. During the minimal preparation, the girls did make sure to practice the handoffs, which were slightly tricky. 

The event is unique because each leg has different distances for each runner. The girls had to focus on doing their best while continuing to work for the team’s benefit. Kenvin ran the first 400 meters of the race, followed by both Kaplan and Savage, who ran 200 meters each. Zidek closed out the race with the longest distance of 800 meters, proving her exceptional stamina and grit. The girls did surprisingly well, considering the small amount of preparation time and the unfamiliarity of the event. Kenvin described the moment as “fulfilling, happy, and proud.” 

While the girls were in the lead from the beginning of the race, they focused not on the outcome but instead tried to achieve the best time for the race. “I was definitely not expecting to be anywhere near as successful as we were, but I think the biggest thing that worked to our advantage was the fact that we were all working hard for each other. Sarah had gotten a really good lead and my thought was that I didn’t want to give it up, so I pushed myself extremely hard. I think wanting to work hard for my teammates was a huge impact on my performance in the race,” Kaplan explained in an email. Kenvin shared her perspective as well, “I would tell myself to finish the race despite our position in it, because if not, we would not have beaten the record”. 

As the sixth formers prepare to leave Hill in three weeks, they leave some parting advice for their younger peers. Kenvin gives this advice to fourth-formers Riley and Ella: “Really  appreciate the time you have left at Hill..the track team, in particular, is such an amazing community because it brings so many people together.” Kaplan concurred with this sentiment, expressing in an email,” Sarah and Colette have been constant positive influences in my life since joining track, and I am so grateful for all their support. They both work so hard on and off the track and are so inspiring in all aspects of Hill and non-Hill life. It was such a great experience being able to have such a great win and break a record with such amazing people, not to mention my best friends. I am really excited to continue to run and improve with Riley and other younger members of the team, it has been so helpful having Riley by my side through the season, and I cannot wait for more years with her!” 

The rest of the Hill Community is immensely proud of our athletes. Seth Eilberg, director of athletics, has these words for the girls: “Keep working and have fun, and thanks for representing with Hill Pride!”