HAMMOND | If Tuesday's conference meet was any indication, the track teams of the Great Lake Athletic Conference is getting better.
Meet records fell left and right as Morton cruised to team wins for both boys and girls.
Hurdles records, specifically, were an endangered species. On the boys side, Hammond's Greg McCloud's 40.4 in the 300 meters put his name in the record books.
"I knew I wasn't racing everybody else here. I was racing the clock," McCloud said.
Despite recording the best time in the meet's five-year history, McCloud said he could've done better. He didn't clear three hurdles cleanly.
"I got over as quick as I could, but (it cost me) like half a second," the Wildcat senior said. "That is a lot of time."
McCloud also missed the record in the 110 meter hurdles by 0.1 seconds.
Morton freshman Kendria Huff won both hurdles events, setting a record of 16.7 in the 100 meters. That time beats the previous record by 1.4 seconds.
Hammond's Parris Nunnally, who'd beaten Huff by 0.1 earlier in the season, fell during the race.
"Seeing her fall, I wasn't happy about it," Huff said, "but I knew I could win."
Huff's 55.6 was good enough to win the 300 hurdles as well.
Gavit's Xavier Copeland tied the record in the 400-yard dash with a time of 51.53.
"I didn't expect to have the lead," Copeland said. "When I got to the 200 (mark) I had the lead and I knew I had to keep the lead."
Copeland's teammate in the 800, Zach Schreiber, didn't break a record but came from behind to win his race in the final lap.
"I was thinking that I wasn't going to be able to finish," Schreiber said. "But right at about 800, I just started to feel it. I just picked it up and I just went."
Earlier in the day, Schreiber posted a personal best of 2:11 in his leg of the 3200 relay.
Morton led the boys scoring with 83 points, followed by Hammond with 70, Gavit with 54 and Clark with 12. On the girls side, Morton tallied 92.5 points while Hammond had 69.5, Gavit had 42 and Clark had 18.
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