Chuck Groller knows there’s still a long way to go.

But Northwestern’s track and field coach likes where his program is at – and where it’s headed.

The Tigers opened the Colonial League season with a pair of solid wins from both the boys and girls on Tuesday against Northern Lehigh and Notre Dame Green Pond.

Northwestern’s boys posted victories of 92.66-53.33 over Notre Dame GP and 112.5-33.5 against Northern Lehigh. In the girls’ competition, the Tigers topped the Crusaders 87-62, and dispatched the Bulldogs 106-44.

Not a bad way to start the season.

“I’m very proud of our athletes today,” said Groller. “With the cold conditions, I’m very proud of what they did. They overcame some things, and we saw some really good stuff from all of our athletes.

“We’re a work in progress. Next week’s another meet, and we’ll go from there.”

Junior Faith Yost has picked up where she left off for Northwestern. A year after winning Colonial League titles in the 100 and 300 hurdles, Yost swept both events Tuesday, while also winning the high jump.

Yost crossed the line in 17.9 in the 100 hurdles and 54.2 in the 300. She cleared 5-1 in the high jump, and narrowly missed her personal best of 5-3 after that.

“It feels great to get where I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get today with how cold it was,” said Yost. “My steps were a little bit off; I had to do a few run-throughs, my muscles got a bit tight. But I’m really happy with getting 5-1.”

Faith is also closing in on the school record in the event of 5-5, which is held by her aunt- Kathy Yost.

The Tigers took three of the top four spots in the event, with senior Kristen Mauer (4-5) third and freshman Megan Fornawalt (4-5) fourth.

She closed out the meet by starting off the winning 1600 relay, which crossed the line with a time of 4:36.7 and consisted of Abby Pomajevich, Haley Dubois and Naomi Glassberg.

“Overall, I’m very happy with my team,” said Yost. “We have so many young students on both sides, and I’m really proud of them for doing their best today. We’re definitely going to get somewhere this year.”

Sophomore Sadie Fenstermaker won the shot put with a mark of 27-8.5, and was third in the javelin.

“I’ve just been working a lot on technique and trying to ask my coach a lot of questions if I’m not sure about something,” said Fenstermaker. “I was actually really calm today. I was a lot more relaxed than I am usually; usually I’m kind of anxious before a meet. But today I was really calm, and I feel like that helped me do really well.” Fenstermaker just missed her personal best of 27-9 in the shot put.

“I was just happy with how I did,” she said. “I wasn’t really focusing a on a PR today. I was just focusing on just throwing it and seeing how well I could do since it’s the first meet.”

On the boys’ side, many key runners return from a cross country team that won league and district titles, and placed third at states in Class 2A.

The Tigers flexed their muscle in the middle distance and distance events Tuesday, with Nate Vincent winning the 800, Sam Bower pacing the 1600 and Cole Chukoskie grabbing first in the 3200.

Northwestern swept the top three spots in the 800, and went 1-2 in both the 1600 and 3200.

“We have a great group of guys coming off that season,” said Chukoskie, who was also on the winning 3200 relay. “We’re running pretty solid right now. We got a lot of new PRs, even in these conditions, just to be near your PR is still really good.”

Chukoskie hit the line in 10:20.0 in the 3200, just ahead of brother Joe Chukoskie. Vincent, who was followed by Bower and Matt Santana, won the 800 in 2:09.2, while Bower paced Santana to the line in the 1600 with a time of 4:42.8.

“We were just looking to lay down some good times today, and use all that training that we’ve put in over the winter coming into this season,” said Cole. “And I think we did that pretty well. To be doing this well early in the season, that’s a really great thing.”

Senior Joshua Heilman powered to a win in the 400 with a time of 54.5, and anchored the team of Evan Anderson, Jackson Moyes and Ethan Kozlowski to victory in the 1600 relay with a time of 3:44.2.

“A 54 is no joke in the cold,” said Heilman. “It’s not too bad. I ran a 53 in the cold the other day at practice, but it’s totally different at meets. But I’m excited for the season. I’m excited for our team as a whole.”

Notre Dame swept Northern Lehigh, posting an 86-60 victory in the girls meet and a 91-46 victory in the boys competition.

Senior Emily Moyer won the pole vault for the Bulldogs, clearing a school record height of 9-2, eclipsing the previous mark of 9-1.

“I’ve been training really hard and it’s really nice to see that payoff,” said Moyer, whose previous best was 8-6 last year.

Moyer had cleared 9-0 with the bar in practice last week.

She cleared 9-2 on her first try Tuesday.

“I had a lot of height – I went up to 8-9, and had a lot of height – so then my coach said, ‘Let’s just go for it. Let’s not waste all your energy inching up,’” said Moyer. “So I just went for it. I don’t look for the bar, I just try to go up as high as I can, and I did.”

Moyer started practicing pole vault as a freshman, but last spring was her first season competing in the event.

In such a technical event, Moyer has made huge strides in a short amount of time.

After clearing 9-2, Moyer tried 9-7. Though she didn’t get it, the senior has her sights set on pushing the school record even higher.

“I was so pumped today,” said Moyer. “I was like, ‘I got it! I got it!’ Definitely the confidence is there.”

WINNERS

... Carsyn Van Norman (200) and Emma Nelson (triple jump) also had victories for the Northwestern girls, while Daniel Bolsover (triple jump), Jackson Bailey (javelin), Colin Myers (discus), Gavin Nelson (high jump) and Cayden Kuhns (pole vault) were victorious for the Tiger boys. Katelynn Barthold (800), Kendall Snyder (long jump) and Trevor Amorim (100) all had wins for Northern Lehigh.

NEW KICKS

... While Heilman was fleet-footed for the most part on Tuesday, he didn’t hit the ground running in all of his events. “I’m actually pretty proud of myself for the 100 because I came out of the blocks and I slipped; my foot got kind of stuck,” Heilman said with a laugh. “These are new spikes, and I’m still getting used to them. I still got second. I was pretty far back, and I was able to get all the way up there, which was surprising.”

GIRLS

Northwestern 87, Notre Dame GP 62

Northwestern 106, Northern Lehigh 44

Notre Dame GP 86, Northern Lehigh 60

100 - 1. Sarah Sidro (ND) 13.2, 2. Carsyn Van Norman (NW), 3. Zoe Hathaway (NL); 200 - 1. Carsyn Van Norman (NW) 29.0, 2. Sarah Sidro (ND), 3. Lauren Bower (ND); 400 - 1. Lauren Bower (ND) 1:04.3, 2. Naomi Glassberg (NW), 3. Haley Dubois (NW); 800 - 1. Katelynn Barthold (NL) 2:38.9, 2. Olivia Scweitzer (ND), 3. Serena Azzalina (ND); 1600 - 1. Katherine Koons (ND) 5:44.5, 2. Katelynn Barthold (NL), 3. Angelina Klein (NW); 3200 - 1. Katherine Koons (ND) 12:31.0, 2. Angelina Klein (NW), 3. Kelcey Pedron (NW); 100H - 1. Faith Yost (NW) 17.9, 2. Lily Eyvazzadeh (ND), 3. Valia Tsirukis (ND); 300H - 1. Faith Yost (NW) 54.2, 2. Katie Brensinger (NW), 3. Megan Fornawalt (NW); 400 Relay - Northwestern (Abby Pomajevich, Brook Balliet, Kaia Grantham, Carsyn Van Norman) 55.2; 1600 Relay - Northwestern (Faith Yost, Abby Pomajevich, Haley Dubois, Naomi Glassberg) 4:36.7; 3200 Relay - Notre Dame-GP 11:10.4; Shot put - 1. Sadie Fenstermaker (NW) 27-8.5, 2. Paige Sevrain (NW), 3. Maria Kirkopoulos (NW); Javelin - 1. Emma Zambo (ND) 89-1, 2. Caitlin Kirk (NL), 3. Paige Sevrain (NW); Discus - 1. Amber Unger (ND) 91-6, 2. Maria Kirkopoulos (NW), 3. Sadie Fenstermaker (NW); Long jump - 1. Kendall Snyder (NL) 14-7, 2. Katelynn Barthold (NL), 3. Emma Soergel (ND); Triple jump - 1. Emma Nelson (NW) 30-11, 2. Kendall Snyder (NL), 3. Clare Duffy (ND); High jump - 1. Faith Yost (NW) 5-1, 2. Zoe Hathaway (NL), 3. Kirsten Mauer (NW); Pole vault

- 1. Emily Moyer (NL) 9-2, 2. Grace Yost (NW), 3. Amy Andreoli (NW).

BOYS

Northwestern 92.66, Notre Dame 53.33

Northwestern 112.5, No. Lehigh 33.5

Notre Dame GP 91, Northern Lehigh 46

100 - 1. Trevor Amorim (NL) 11.5, 2. Joshua Heilman (NW), 3. Tarif Muhammad (ND); 200 - 1. Tarif Muhammad (ND) 23.6, 2. Trevor Amorim (NL), 3. Joshua Heilman (NW); 400 - 1. Joshua Heilman (NW) 54.5, 2. Michael Maslonka (ND), 3. James Wisecarver (ND); 800 - 1. Nathan Vincent (NW) 2:09.2, 2. Samuel Bower (NW), 3. Matthew Santana (NW); 1600 - 1. Samuel Bower (NW) 4:42.8, 2. Matthew Santana (NW), 3. Jared Thomason (NL); 3200 - 1. Cole Chukoskie (NW) 10:20.0, 2. Joe Chukoskie (NW), 3. Jared Thomason (NL); 100H - 1. Joseph Santos (ND) 16.5, 2. Cade Santos (ND), 3. Chase Jones (NL); 300H - 1. Joseph Phillips (ND) 44.7, 2. Cade Santos (ND), 3. Jared Thomason (NL); 400 Relay - Northwestern (Evan Anderson, Asa Fogel, Bailey Blaise, Jackson Moyes) 46.7; 1600 Relay - Northwestern (Evan Anderson, Joshua Heilman, Jackson Moyes, Ethan Kozlowski) 3:44.2; 3200 Relay - Northwestern (Joe Chukoskie, Cole Chukoskie, Sean Kershner, Nathan Vincent) 8:48.29; Shot put - 1. Thomas Wendland (ND) 38-8.5, 2. Jayden Kempasky (NL), 3. Colin Myers (NW); Javelin - 1. Jackson Bailey (NW) 97-0, 2. Matthew Cabansag (NW), 3. Gabe Diaz (NL); Discus - 1. Colin Myers (NW) 104-5, 2. Colby Jackovitz (NL), 3. Thomas Wendland (ND); Long jump - 1. James Wisecarver (ND) 19-0, 2. Kit Kahm (NW), 3. Ryan Kothstein (ND); Triple jump - 1. Daniel Bolsover (NW) 39-3, 2. James Holzschoh (ND), 3. Kit Kahm (NW); High jump - 1. Gavin Nelson (NW) 5-3, 2. Matthew Shuhay (NW), 3. Cade Santos (ND); Pole vault

- 1. Cayden Kuhns (NW) 10-3.