On March 27, the Norwin Track and Field Knights opened up section play on a chilly spring day at Norwin High School defeating both Latrobe and Indiana. The boys wrapped up the Section in April with a win over Greensburg Salem to wrap up their 5th Section title in a row. The team currently holds a record of 38-1 since 2017 and is gearing up for a successful postseason run in 2025.
The Knights showed dominance at all levels in all of their Section meets, with their biggest victory being a win over Greensburg Salem High School. On April 22, the team faced their biggest challenge at the West Mifflin Invitational meet. The boys captured a great victory at this meet, winning with a score of 106-44.
Some stand-out performances include senior Thomas Gaydos breaking the record at the Butler Invitational for the 3200 meters, previously owned by Patrick Noll since 1985. Gaydos broke the record by more than 06 seconds with a time of 9:21 seconds.
“It felt great I was happy with my race and I was hoping to break it going into the season,” said Thomas Gaydos.
Another school record was broken at the County Championship in Latrobe High School by senior Ryan Schiller at the 110-hurdles preliminaries. Schiller also broke the school record for the 300-meter hurdles at the same meet.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” said Ryan Schiller. “It’s putting a lot of work in during this off-season so it’s great to finally have that reward and be able to have my name on the poster.”
One of the keys to the Knights success on the track and in the field has been the team’s year-round work ethic.
“I think I’m pretty good at running because I’m disciplined and I have goals,” said senior Luke Simpson. “I wanna accomplish a season and I know that if I don’t work hard every day, then this will not be accomplished.”
Helping the veterans on the team this year is the inclusion of three of the best freshmen in the state of Pennsylvania. Benjamin McBride holds the second fastest 1600m for a freshmen in Pennsylvania with a time of 4:30, and Alexander Barrett ran a 2:03 for the 800m, a great time for a freshman. Freshman standout Brice Goodman is the top freshman in the state in the shot put and third in the discus.
The biggest victory yet for the boys team is winning the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championship with a score of 171 and achieving the second team goal–Section title & County title. The next goal will be to win the WPIAL championship, which the boys’ team just came short of winning last year by coming in second place.
