Just a few weeks into its young season, the Park City High School track and field team has gone places no previous team has gone in the past 20 years.

Sophomore running phenom Ben Saarel broke the school’s mile record, running a four-minute 25-second mile in the team’s first race of the season. The previous record at the school was set in 1991.

And Saarel didn’t stop there.

He also broke the school record for the two-mile run with a time of nine minutes and 27 seconds, 13 seconds under the previous record.

Saarel isn’t the only super sophomore to put his name into PCHS lore already this season. Meghan Glassman broke the PCHS girls’ records in both the discus and javelin throw.

“It’s pretty unusual for a sophomore to break a school record and we have had two,” said head coach Jeff Wyant. “It’s pretty scary that they’re already at that level. Not only the fact that they’re sophomores, but the fact they’re doing it at the very start of the season. Usually you have your best performances at the end of the season.”

This year, Park City has high expectations.

A season ago, the girls’ track team won state the second time in the last six years and this year, Wyant said, both the girls and boys have the talent to make noise come the 3A state meet in a couple months.

The Miner girls return runners such as Becca Cunningham, Emily Schmidt and McKenzie Snyder from last year’s state championship squad. Wyant said this year’s squad is as balanced as last year, and having versatility across the board will only help Park City as the season progresses.

“Meghan adds something that we don’t normally have in the girls,” he said. “We’ve always had a strong distance program. Having (Glassman) in there makes the track team more balanced.”

Wyant said this year’s boys squad has potential to score big points at every meet with runners such as Connor Gideon and throwers (shot put, javelin, discus) like football star Jake Adams, who is throwing really well thus far this season according to Park City’s head coach.

“The boys are actually a threat to win state,” he said.

Wyant said his experienced coaching staff will help the Miners through the season; former PCHS star Chelsea Shapard is now coaching the hurdles after starring at the University of Utah.

“Normally, our whole goal is to develop the team, but when you get a team like this, you start thinking about total points and doing something great with it,” he said.

In terms of his end-of-the-season goals, Park City’s head coach said the talent of his squad has him thinking about another state title.

“We’ve never really always had a shot to win state (boys and girls), but with a team like this, we have to at least throw it out there,” he said.