Giada Gilmore Young
(Left to right) Laina Penland,'25, Madison Siebert, '28, Giada Gilmore Young, '27, Kayla Castro, '27, run in the girls varsity 4x4 race breaking the school record by 2 seconds.
Head coach Shawn Young explained the goal of attending this meet at Clovis North High School was to give the team a chance to race against a higher level of competition.
“Having the right level of competition can help athletes push themselves and challenge their limits,” Young said.
Lacy Smith, ‘28, held the previous record in the 1600 meters with a time of 5:30.65 but had only just barely broken that record weeks prior. On the day of the meet, she was running with fresh legs and broke her own record by 6 seconds with a time of 5:30.65
Junior Chloe Ledieff broke her own record in the 3200 meters, which is 2 miles or 8 laps around a track. In the fastest heat of the Varsity Girls race, she ran a time of 11:53.50, which is 12 seconds faster than her record from freshman year.
Laina Penland, ‘25, has been working to break the 400 meter record since her freshman year. Penland finally accomplished it by breaking a 12-year-old record with a time of 1:00.39.
Ian Palsgaard, ’25, broke the 800-meter record at the track season opener at the Buchanan Distance Classic. Two weeks later, his teammate Blake Bay broke that record again at the Central Valley Christian Invitational. In the fastest heat for the Varsity Boys, Palsgaard came back to break the record again, finishing with 2:00.99.
In Track, the last event of the meet is always the 4×400 relay, where each person runs one lap around the track. The last team to break the record included Emily Krieghoff, Jen Vandenhoek, Janae Ford, April Fujihara, who competed in 2006 and ran a time of 4:25. Dorina Gilmore-Young has been coaching for 20-plus years.
“Breaking this record is a big deal,” Gilmore-Young said. “What a delight to watch this new team break the record in 2025 with so many young athletes.”
Last season, the FC girls’ team included Penland, then freshmen Kayla Castro, Giada Gilmore Young, and Hailey Higton. They were on pace to break the record by 5 seconds at the Division 4 Championships. With 100 meters to go, Penland was accidently tripped by an opponent, ruining the chances for the girls to break the record.
Going into the 2025 track and field season, the girls were eager to chase down the record, especially with Penland being a senior. This year’s team has multiple 400 runners. The team that competed at Clovis North, comprised of Penland, Castro, Gilmore Young and freshman Madison Siebert. Each of them needed to run under 1 minute and 10 seconds. Finishing with a time of 4:23.52, the girls broke the 19-year-old record, putting themselves on the school record board in the gym.
Other athletes who achieved personal records at the meet included:
Castro – 100H 18.30 PR
Gilmore Young – 300H 50.33 PR
Jacob Pimentel, ’25,– 3200m 10:50.60 PR
Siebert – 1600m 5:37.28 PR (Just 0.20 seconds from the previous school record that Lacy Smith broke in the following heat)
Smith – 3200m 12:27.30 PR
Jeremiah Valorosi, ’27,– 1600m 4:51.50 PR
Max Watson, ’28, – 800m 2:23.35 PR
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