This year’s Park City track & field squad is one of the most talented that head coach Jeff Wyant has seen.

And if there is any questioning that, he can simply point to the number of school records this year’s team has topped.

In Saturday’s Davis Invitational meet at Davis High School, the Miners broke three school records in three separate events. Through the first couple months of the season, the team has set a total of seven school records in events such as the 1600, 3200, 4×800, javelin, discus and long jump.

“It’s a pretty amazing group to have,” Wyant said. “We have some of the most elite athletes in the history of the school.”

Take junior distance runner Ben Saarel, who broke his own school record in the boys’ 1600 with a time of 4:16.88, and also finished third in the event at Davis. Saarel also shattered the boys’ 3200 (two-mile) school record in a meet at Arcadia, Calif., finishing the race in 9:01, 27 seconds ahead of the previous Park City High School record.

“At the time, it was the fastest time in the nation,” Wyant said, “but it only stood for an hour. We sent him to that meet knowing he’d do something special.”

At the Davis Invitational, the foursome of Ali Walker, Kaila Balch, Ellie Burton and McKenzie Snyder surpassed the previous school record, winning the girls’ 4×800 relay in 9:38, two seconds ahead of the record (9:40).

And to the delight of Wyant, another Park City foursome finished fourth in the girls’ 4×800 relay, right behind 5A powerhouse schools Davis and Bingham.

Wyant said Walker, a junior, is now No. 2 in school history in girls’ track & field distance running, and is closing in on some more school records.

“She’s another one who’s really killing it,” he said.

The same could be said for junior thrower Megan Glasmann, who has the ability to break records on any given day. That was evident at Davis Saturday when she broke the school record in girls’ discus with a third-place throw of 124.07 feet. Glasmann also set new school and state records in javelin earlier this season.

Wyant said that the Davis Invitational is one of the most prestigious high school track meets in Utah during the regular season and that he is proud of the way the team seems to rise to the occasion against the state’s top talent.

“When you get that caliber of kids, they seem to do better when the pressure is on,” he said.

According to Wyant, both Saarel and Glasmann, are ranked in the top 20 in the nation in their respective events. He said the hard work they continually put in has helped them get there.

“It’s rare for juniors and it’s rare to have a high school kid on your team getting that kind of recognition,” he said. “It’s kind of a thrill to see that happening for them. They deserve it.”

With the Region 10 championship meet looming next Tuesday and Wednesday at Wasatch High School, Park City now goes into arguably its most difficult stretch of the year with the BYU Invitational on tap Saturday, and the state track meet scheduled for May 18-19.

Wyant said this Saturday will feature some of the best teams in the state, 1A through 5A, along with some of the top talent in Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada and Colorado.

“It’s the biggest meet in the state,” he said. “It’s tougher than state. We’ve had many kids in the past that have won state that never won at BYU.”