KARNS CITY — Whether they are rounding the bases or rounding the track, the two-sport stars of the spring at Karns City are fast.

Very fast.

“Speed is a great thing,” said Gremlins’ baseball coach Randy Collins, who is blessed with a roster brimming with track athletes. At a school the size of Karns City, many athletes are shared between the track and the diamond.

“It’s especially useful in this big outfield (at Pullman Park, the Gremlins’ home field this season),” Collins added. “We have two of the fastest track guys out there and that makes a big difference.”

Tyler Kepple, Nathan Weckerly, Wyatt Everetts and Zach Moore are four key members of both the baseball and track and field teams at Karns City.

All four are on the 400-meter relay team — Moore and Everetts as alternates — that ran a time of 46.5 seconds in the first meet of the season in windy and cold conditions.

Logan Moroney and Tristian Rhoades run two legs of that event normally.

Last season, that relay team with Kepple, Weckerly, Glenn Toy and Tyler Marsinetti ran a 45.19 and advanced to the PIAA Championships.

“It was a good start for us, a good starting time,” said Kepple of the team’s first crack at the relay this season. “We know what we are capable of doing and that time is something to build on.”

On Monday, the team nearly matched their best time of last season, finishing in 45.3 seconds against Clarion.

“We are really happy with what they ran last week in the snow,” said Karns City boys track and field coach Bill Black. “They just keep getting better and better. Obviously, they are running well and it is impressive what they are doing so early because they have two practices a day.”

There’s no time to rest in the spring for that quartet. On a typical day, they can be found at track practice in the afternoon and then at baseball practice immediately following.

The schedule is manipulated so race days conflict with baseball games.

“We all work together,” Collins said.

“They have a hectic schedule, that’s for sure,” Black said. “We’ve been trying to get them into big meets, but that’s challenging because of the baseball schedule. We’ve been able to survive out here because the baseball and track programs get along so well.”

For the players, it can be physically taxing. But it is something they have grown accustomed to over the years.

“We condition for both sports,” Kepple said. “It really doesn’t phase us much.”

For Weckerly, who is the Karns City catcher, the spring is a little more demanding on his body.

Crouching behind the plate and taking foul tips off various body parts can take a toll. But Weckerly prepares himself for the rigors of the spring.

“The main thing is you have to get your body in shape,” Weckerly said. “In practice, I catch bullpen sessions and that really gets my legs in shape. Everything I do is a workout. The foul balls, you take a beating, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Weckerly is the leadoff hitter for the Gremlins and is one of their best baserunners.

That makes it difficult for Collins to use a courtesy runner for his catcher.

“You want to use one,” Collins said, “but you can’t because he is so fast.”

Moore plays left field and Everetts roams center for Karns City. Both are dangerous baserunners as well.

Moore said the work they do during track practice directly translates to the basepaths.

“We work on our speed training out of the blocks,” Moore said. “That’s the same skills you use on the bases when you get your first-step burst to steal a base or get a jump.”

Collins said he sees the speed translate to the baseball field every day.

“Kepple hit a ball down the line in our last game and he turned it into a double,” Collins. “Not everyone can do that. Running the bases, stealing bases, stretching extra base hits. It all adds up.”