WHITEHALL — Nothing at the Baldwin High School track Thursday afternoon was brighter than Jake Wolfrum's smile.

Not even the blazing sun overhead.

“That's one happy kid,” said Butler assistant track and field coach Mike Seybert.

Wolfrum had reason to beam.

After three years of what had been largely an unremarkable career on the track, Wolfrum etched his name into the Butler High School record book with a time of 38.73 seconds in the 300 hurdles, breaking the school-record mark of 38.88 established by Logan Renwick in 2009.

“I didn't know if I broke it,” Wolfrum said. “When (Seybert) told me I did, I started to tear up a little bit.”

Wolfrum's best time in the 300 hurdles before this season was 42.3 seconds.

Not bad, but certainly not elite.

But something clicked — more mentally than physically.

Wolfrum began to believe in himself.

“I lack confidence so much,” Wolfrum said. “Just coming into this year, my senior year, I wanted to make a difference and leave my mark on this school. I just can't believe what I've done.”

Wolfrum finished second in the Class AAA 300 hurdles at the WPIAL Track and Field Championships Thursday with that record-breaking time, finishing behind North Allegheny star Ayden Owens, who ran a sizzling time of 36.65.

But Wolfrum has largely kept pace with Owens this season.

“When we were at the team championships, I was looking down in the straightaway, but when I looked up I was like, 'I'm pretty close to him,'” Wolfrum said. “I got here and I knew the competition was going to be everywhere, that people were going to be all around me. But when we got to the first hurdle and I noticed there was no one next to me and just him in front of me, I was like, 'I got this.'”

Even Wolfrum has been shocked by his ascension in the event.

At the Butler Invitational in mid-April, he ran a time of 38.92. That's when it occurred to Wolfrum that he was on to something big.

“My times just dropped like crazy,” Wolfrum said. “My goal was to just get top 10 (on the school's all-time list in the event), then at the Butler invite, I was like, 'Holy cow, I just went from eighth to second on the all-time list.”

Now he's first.

Wolfrum was just as giddy about qualifying for the PIAA Track and Field Championships next weekend.

“Going to invites, I never even used to medal there before,” Wolfrum said.

In fact, before this season he had just three medals displayed in his room.

Now, he has a lot more.

“I look at my dresser in the morning and now I have all these medals,” Wolfrum said. “It's crazy. It's crazy what can happen when you put your mind to it.

“I'm just pushing myself now until it hurts,” he added before letting out and infectious laugh. “I want to make it hurt as much as I can.”

Wolfrum is hoping to add one more medal to his collection at the state finals in Shippensburg.

“I want to get low 38s and maybe even break 38,” Wolfrum said. “Hopefully come him with a medal. That's something I never thought I'd even do in my life.”