Second-by-second, the boys 4x400 team kept chipping away at the school record over the last two seasons. Finally, at a meet in Cookeville last week, the four Pioneers busted through, setting a new best time while taking a victory in the relay race.

Andrew Key, Julian Martinez, Lee-Allen Esparza and Kaleb Spears dusted the field - and the previous record holders - with a time of 3:36.64 in Cookeville. It was 32 seconds faster than second place Wednesday (the Cavaliers) and over a second better than the 3:38.08 mark set by Christian Locke, Grant Hitchcock, Paxton Smith and Jacob Baehman in 2016.

Coach Jeremy Wilhelm has seen the group steadily approaching the record and was ecstatic to see them finally eclipse the mark during a win.

"A lot of individual work with training and preparation (goes into setting the record)," said Wilhelm. "Then comes the teamwork part of handoffs and timing, followed by taking care of your body. You need to be ready to go at max capacity. It takes eating right before, getting proper rest and - as this team says - 'just bring the energy.'"

Spears is now a two-time record holder at Warren County. He's also individual 400 champ, a record he broke three times last year. 

The Lady Pioneer 4x400 team is also a standout, having set the record last year and nearly breaking it on the same night the 4x400 boys made their push. Warren County's 4x400 girls - Breanna Iverson, Chloe VanVranken, Ella VanVranken and Zoey Snider - missed their record by .37 seconds in Cookeville, but still topped York in the race by nearly five seconds.

Ella VanVranken, a record holder in nearly every individual distance at WCHS, went on to finish second in the 300 hurdles in Cookeville while Chloe VanVranken finished second in the 400.

Snider also took second, running the 800 at the event, on the girls side.

For the boys, Keyton Reno tied for first in the high jump and Luke Saldana finished second in the shotput.