During the spring 2022 PVAC Track and Field season, WIS freshman Tyra Holst broke several long-standing records. “[Holst] broke two different records this season,” US Math Coordinator and Track and Field Coach Gary Piligian said. “She broke the 100-meter hurdles [record] three times… and the other one was the triple jump [an event where the runner takes two jumps before a final jump off one foot].”

Holst is a new student who came to WIS after winter break. Shortly after her arrival from Sweden, she started to participate in the WIS Track team and performed exceptionally well.

Back in Sweden, she was also a member of a Track team. “I started track when I was five and I’ve done track all year around since then,” Holst said. “For the last couple of years, I did it around four times a week, and each practice was around [one and a half] hours.”

The Track team that she used to participate in was very different from WIS’s team. “In Sweden, there are club sports. You don’t do school sports. So in my club, we didn’t have this kind of ‘record’ system,” she said. “All the other girls I competed against were on a totally different level. It’s insane how good they were, as they practiced a lot more than me. It’s different coming here because here I’m among the best, which I wasn’t really in Sweden.”

Additionally, the running distances were different. “It’s a little hard to compare [running times in Sweden versus here] because in Sweden we run 80 meters instead of 100 meters,” she said. “The record that I broke for the 100-meter hurdles, this is the first time that I ran that distance, so I can’t really compare.”

Piligian elaborated on Holst’s specific record-breaking times for the 100-meter hurdles. “The previous record was 19 seconds flat. And she first ran in 18.59, on a meet on April 14 at Episcopal High School,” he said. “She broke her own record two weeks later at Holton Arms. She ran a 18.32. And then she broke her own record again in the PVAC championship where she ran a 17.96. And she placed first in the PVAC championship.”

Piligian also mentioned the other record Holst broke: the triple jump. “[It] happened on her final jump in the triple jump in the PVAC championships,” he said. “The previous record was 31.7 [feet] and she jumped 32.3, and she came in second in the triple jump in the PVAC tournament.”

Both of these record-breaking runs have great significance to the Track team, as the previous record holders had their respective titles for several years.

The date of the previous record for the 100-meter hurdles was wiped out, but Holst believes that it was from around 2004. Moreover, Piligian stated that the previous triple jump record dated back to 2006.

Holst reminisced on breaking the 100-meter hurdles record for the first time. “I was like, ‘18.59. Oh my god! I broke the record!’ I got really happy,” Holst said.

By Marco Pagiola-Croitoru