ADAMS TWP - As far as the Mars girls 1,600-relay team is concerned, the best was saved for last in this case.

The Planets' foursome of Brittany Zaborowski, Megan Eidenshink, Heather Carpenter and Julie Utz finished the final track event of the day with a time of 4 minutes, 7.52 seconds, Friday at the Mars Track and Field Invitational.

The mark accomplished three things: It gave the Planets their only win of the day in both girls and boys competition, it broke the event record, previously held by Freedom (4:07.63 in 2000) and it broke the school record.

"This is only the third time that this foursome has run together," said Mars coach Tim Tyler. "They recently set the MAC Meet record with a time of 4:10 and they ran a 4:12 at the Pine-Richland Invitational.

"With the weather we've had this spring, these girls are just now getting into shape," added Tyler.

The win capped a day in which Butler County schools grabbed seven first place finishes: five on the girls side, two on the boys side.

Knoch's Sarah Reppermund matched her career best in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 2 inches to win the event.

"She's been jumping 5-2 consistently," said Knights' coach Tom Hoffman. "And she's a hair from getting to 5-4."

"Last year, I placed sixth here," said Reppermund. "I came in today just wanting to place."

Other first-place finishes included Moniteau's Alyssa Deal (800-meter run, 2:21.54), Karns City's Samantha Pistorius (200 dash, 26.53) and Seneca Valley's Kim Chapman (300 hurdles, 46.90).

Deal and Pistorius both ran their best times this season.

Chapman left no doubt as to what she intended to do coming into the event.

"I came to win and set a personal record," said Chapman, who succeeded on both counts. "I was also trying to set a school record. Emily Thomas ran a 46.75 last year."

On the boys side, Knoch's Zach Ferraro topped the field in the 100-meter dash. He was clocked at a time of 11:09, and Ferraro admitted it wasn't his best showing.

"I ran a 10.97 earlier this week," he said. "But with the wind today, I was just hoping to do my best.

"The other guys came in fresh," added Ferraro. "As soon as I was done with the 110 hurdles, I came out to run the 100.

"When I ran this event Wednesday at Ford City, it was the first time in a year and a half that I had competed in it," said Ferraro. "Coach liked my time and decided to let me run it again today."

Seneca's Justin Nock won the high jump with a mark of 6-1.

The finish helped the Raiders boys take third place in the team standings with 49 points.

Though he didn't finish first in any event, Knoch's Bob Rummel had quite a day as well.

Rummel finished second in the 110 hurdles, second in the triple jump and fourth in the 300 hurdles.

His effort contributed to Knoch's total of 46 points as the Knights finished a respectable third in the boys standings.

The girls teams from Seneca (31) and Mars (27) placed sixth and seventh, respectively.

It was a record-setting day for many athletes.

Seven boys records and five girls records were rewritten.

Possibly the most dominating performance of the day came from South Park's Chad Radgowski, who heaved the javelin 201-7.

Not only was this mark over 42 feet longer than the next closest competitor's throw, it shattered the previous meet standard (Freedom's Matt Brown threw 185-4 in 2002.)