Parkland's distance runners have been a big factor in the Trojan boys track and field team's 9-1 record in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC).

During Friday's William Allen Invitational at J. Birney Crum Stadium, two of the Trojan's top boys runners placed in the top 10 of the 3200 meter run. Sophomore Hailemichael Geiger placed fourth, while junior Daniel Kyvelosc crossed the finish line in eighth place.

"We have really strong distance runners this year, especially for track," Geiger said. "We won a lot of meets thanks to the distance running. We are really proud of the distance runners."

Gieger, despite finishing a little more than a second behind Freedom's William Alpaugh for third place and a medal, was pleased with his performance. He ran his best time ever in the 3200 on Friday.

"That was a personal record for me today," said Geiger, who finished in 9:56.65. "I was really proud of that. I was really going for that third place, but I missed him. I didn't know he was coming behind me. He passed me at the end."

Whitehall's Gabe Lamm (9:48.93) finished first, followed by Pleasant Valley's Seth Slavin in second.

Northern Lehigh's Gavin Kemery was able to edge out Kyvelos down the stretch of the 3200, but the junior was still able to gain team points for the Trojans.

"The first mile was definitely faster than I had anticipated," Kyvelos said. "The wind on the back stretch was pretty strong, so it was hard to catch your breath sometimes. It was a fast first mile, which made the second mile even harder. It was tough to try and hang on."

Kyvelos set a season-best time of 10:15.54 in the event.

It's not just the experienced runners who are making an impact in both the boys and girls distance events. A number of newcomers have made a name for themselves in the past couple of weeks, while also pushing some of the more talented runners on the track.

"Every year it seems like we have freshmen who are coming up, or people out of nowhere really from any class that just perform very well," Kyvelos said. "They do all of the training. In practice, they're working hard and doing the grind."

The boys' 3200 meter relay team finished in second place, and was the only Trojan recipient of a medal at the ASD Invitational. Other top-10 finishers in track events include: Zachary Trexler (fifth in 110 meter hurdles, eighth in 300 meter hurdles), Devyn Anderson (sixth in 800 meter run) and Connor Tempro (seventh in 400 meter dash).

In the field events, Zach Hugo and Cole Boychuck placed fourth and seventh in the pole vault, respectively. Morgan Sherwin finished seventh in the high jump, while Adriana Facchiano came in eighth in the discus.