KARNS CITY — There’s a problem at the Karns City track and field practice on a chilly Friday afternoon.

Annie Hegedus is leaping over the jumping pit.

“She’s hitting out of the pit,” said Gremlins’ girls track and field coach Roger King. “I never thought I would have to worry about something like that. It’s a good problem to have.”

So, Hegedus has moved her takeoffs back to the boys board, approximately eight feet behind where a female competitor begins the triple jump.

Such is life when you are leaping sand boxes in a single bound.

Hegedus has been a super girl for the Gremlins in both track and field and basketball as a sophomore.

“She’s a good girl,” King said. “She works hard every day and that’s about all I can ask.”

Hegedus had a career-best leap of 34 feet in the triple jump in a meet April 8. On April 17,, she reached 34 feet, 9½ inches, which broke a school record that has been around longer than the 16-year-old jumper.

That record, a jump of 34-9¼, was set by Tanya Campbell in 1994.

“The first time I thought I could get the record is when I jumped 34 feet,” Hegedus said.

During her record leap, she had a feeling it was going to be a very good one.

As she stepped out of the pit and was told her distance, Hegedus couldn’t contain her excitement.

“I was jumping up and down,” she said. “No one has beaten that record in 19 years. That’s older than I am. That made me feel pretty good.”

King said Hegedus’ success this season has been a pleasant surprise.

Last season, her best jump was a little less than 32 feet.

“Last year she was a ninth-grader and she had those first-year jitters,” King said. “She’st really honed in this year. I wasn’t expecting this kind of improvement. I was expecting it maybe next year. She’s still improving every day in practice.”

Hegedus’ success, both in basketball and in track and field, has come by no accident.

And it has come at the price of her spare time.

“I don’t really have a big social life,” she said, laughing.

Hegedus’ schedule is more than hectic.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, she goes to school, track practice and then attends a two-hour training session in Butler with Gary Bowden and heavyweight fighter Brian Minto.

They work with her on strengthening her legs. And they don’t take it easy on her.

“It’s rough,” Hegedus said.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she either has a track meet or track practice and then travels to Pittsburgh for a two-hour practice with her AAU basketball team, Metro USA.

On the weekends, she plays in hoop tournaments with Metro.

Her school work is usually done on a bus, she said. Hegedus still maintains A and B grades.

“It can be very stressful,” Hegedus said.

She doesn’t plan on slowing down any time soon, however.

The 5-foot-7 point guard on the basketball team averaged 9.9 points per game and helped the young Gremlins win 15 games — the same amount as the previous three seasons combined — and get back to the District 9 playoffs.

Her goals in the triple jump have changed. They have become more far-reaching than one of her leaps over the sand pit.

“I want to get 35 (feet),” she said. “I want to be the first girl from Karns City to get to (the PIAA Track and Field Championships) in the triple jump. I’m not going to stop. I’m going to keep pushing.”