At the state meet last year, Katelyn and Kylie both were part of Hughesvilles team which broke the school record at the state meet in Shippensburg and they were hoping to best that mark again.

Katelyn kept working on getting back, however. She rehabbed throughout the winter season and early in the spring. And last week, Katelyn got her chance to get back on the track.

What did she do in her first meet back? Well, she broke a school record in relay competition. Not a bad comeback for the Spartan.

“It was her first meet back, so having her and a new girl in as our third leg, we really kind of were looking to, we knew we weren’t ranked first, so we wanted to get there,” Kylie said at the Lock Haven High School Classic this past Saturday. “I didn’t think we did great at first until someone told us our time and it was awesome. It was so cool. It’s a team I can really celebrate with.”

CHRIS MANNING/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville’s 400 relay team competes at Shippensburg during last year’s state meet. The Spartans set the school record last year at states in the 400 relay, but broke it last week as Katelyn Temple returned to the track in her first meet since tearing her ACL this past fall.

Katelyn was the leadoff runner for the Spartans’ 400 relay team which broke the school record on April 23 with a time of 50.07, breaking the mark they set last year by 0.03 seconds. This year’s team consisted of Katelyn Temple, Sierra DeWire, Avery Puderbach and Kylie Temple. The Temple sisters and DeWire were part of last year’s team alongside Bryn Derrick.

“They’re just such a great group of kids and the success is nice knowing we can get it earlyish in the season knowing we can keep pushing forward and PRing too,” Kylie said.

Kylie Temple took second in two events on Saturday at Lock Haven. She ran a 26.34 for second in the 200 behind only Lewisburg’s Caroline Blakeslee (25.36) and ran a 45.08 in the 300 hurdles as Williamsport’s Aubrey Phillips-Cobb ran a 44.97 to win in a close race down to the finish.

When asked how her season was going this year, Temple was quick to point out the relay teams and not just her own individual success. She knows how confident the 400 relay team is, but also noted how their 1,600 relay team PR’d last week and ran a time in the 4:40s.

“That’s what we finished last season for our PR I believe. Knowing that we got that earlier too, we fiddle around with runners sometimes, but just knowing that either group of kids — whoever we put in — can run really good times and we’re all there getting each other hype and ready. It’s just great,” Temple said after running the 300 hurdles at Lock Haven.

The Spartan pointed out that she’s looking for her relay team to do well at not only districts, but once again at the state meet.

“My 200, it’s iffy sometimes, but I’m down around where my PR is. It’s not my main event, so I’m not as worried about it but it’s decent considering some of these laps,” Temple said. “My hurdles, they’re on and off sometimes, but they’ve improved a lot since last year. Working with great people over the summer in indoor (track) and now the start of outdoor, it feels like I really just learned how to run them a little bit better and cleaner.”

And that success is giving Temple a confidence boost this year as the district championships are right around the corner.

“It’s nice to be able to run a race and be like ‘yes, I really did that. That’s not a one-time thing,'” Temple said. “It’s really a confidence boost coming off of last season.”