By Rich Winter

605 Sports

From the moment he started competing in long distance running, Kimball/White Lake sophomore Park Sinclair has always looked at the track records for Kimball with the thoughts of one day breaking his father’s 1,600-meter run record of 4:45.0. 

Sinclair moved into near record territory last season when he set the Kimball/White Lake school record in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:48.21 at the Class B state track meet. He didn’t run that fast again this year until the Region 5A meet on May 18 in Alexandria. 

“I had been working all season for that record and I knew this might be one of the last times he might run the event this season,” Park Sinclair said. 

Prior to the race, WiLdKats distance coach Stephanie Kincade McCord laid out the splits Sinclair would need to run and the sophomore, not yet automatically qualified for the state meet, nailed down his berth to the state track meet, won the region title and took down his dad’s 38-year old record in one fell swoop with a time of 4:41.44. 

“I felt really good about that race and think it was one of my most memorable races,” Sinclair said. “It came down to the last few laps and just coming across the line and seeing the smile from my parents was such a great moment.”

Every year about this time the Kimball/White Lake girls start winding things up for the state track meet and 2023 outdoor season looks to have more late season time improvements. 

Like Sinclair, freshman Autumn Baker already held the school record in the 1,600-meter run when she set the school record of 5:29.02 in finishing second in the 2022 Class B girls 1,600-meter run. 

At the Region 5A meet last week Baker shaved nearly six seconds off her former record when she blasted a 5:23.11. That time vaulted Baker from on the bubble of running the 1,600 at the Class A state meet, all the way up to a tie for 11th.

Kincade McCord paced out the laps for Baker who initially thought running in the low 5:20’s wasn’t within her range. 

“She’s a competitor and she took nine seconds off her season's best at the region meet,” Kincade McCord said. “She was a state runner-up last year and she runs with heart and guts. I think she’ll run well at the state meet because she has nothing to lose.”

On two of her pupils breaking records right before the state meet, Kincade McCord said she wasn’t shocked. 

“Autumn and Park, they come out and do what you ask of them,” she said. “They both do a lot of work on their own, they have natural talent and understand they can push it to make themselves better.” 

One of the big changes for Kimball/White Lake this year was moving up to Class A from Class B and running into some tougher competition. 

“We had to adjust some of the meets and our competition,” Kincade McCord said. “Some of our athletes we could hear talking like, ‘Well if we were still in Class B I would be qualified already.’ We had a big conversation about that. Not just goals about that but we qualified just about as many kids as last year and our times are faster.” 

Track fans have become quite familiar with Kimball/White Lake and their girls sprint medley relay. The WiLdKats have won that race in each of the last three seasons just edging Chester Area in 2022 with a tremendous anchor carry from Christine Gaulke. 

Kimball/White Lake qualified their girls sprint medley relay again this year and the girls have the 16th fastest Class A time entering the state track meet.