In the middle of Free State High’s dual track and field meet Friday against Olathe North at FSHS, Firebird Alex Rock said he didn’t particularly like duals.

He said he favored traditional invitationals with nine or ten opponents.

“In a dual it’s different, because you don’t have other people to balance the points out for you. It makes it tougher to win each event,” the sophomore distance runner said.

It turns out Rock had nothing to worry about — he won the 1,600-meter run in 4 minutes, 33.9 seconds.

Free State coach Steve Heffernan and Olathe North’s Scott Calder decided not to keep team scores. It was the first dual Free State had played host to in its six-year history.

“We used it as a time to let younger kids run who haven’t had that much experience,” Heffernan said.

But Friday’s meet wasn’t just a glorified practice, either — the Firebirds ended up breaking four school records.

FSHS junior Kristin Baker set the record in girls’ discus with a 110-foot toss.

Baker also was part of history as a member of the girls’ 4×110-meter relay team, which posted a second-place time of 50.7 seconds. The other members were junior Amber Beierly, junior Kelsey Randall and senior Kelley Perme.

Beierly entered the record books on her own in the 100 with a second-place finish in 12.8 seconds.

On the boys’ side, sophomore Ryan Rastok set the school record in the boys’ 300-meter hurdles with a with a winning time of 40.8 seconds. Rastok also won the 110-meter hurdles with a 15.9-second showing.

Free State's Ryan Rastok clips the last hurdle in the 110-meter hurdles in the Free State dual track meet with Olathe North. Rastok won the event Friday at FSHS.

Heffernan said the record-setting results were surprising.

“I wasn’t expecting that, but something we’ve been talking about is coming in and competing regardless of the situation,” he said. “I was afraid that we wouldn’t see a great effort, but they ended up doing their best going against their teammates.”

Even though it was windy, the track and field team had no complaints about the conditions.

“The weather is perfect,” said Hiral Bhakta, a FSHS senior distance runner. “It’s not cold. It’s not too hot. You couldn’t ask for a better day.”

Rock agreed, pointing out it was easier to cool down than on a hot day.

“This is the perfect weather because you don’t have to worry about losing fluids from sweating,” he said.

The Firebirds will travel Monday to the Ottawa Relays.