The Cashion Wildcats are sprinting their way through spring as the new track season begins and head coach Tony Wood is excited to see his young athletes show off their talents. Wood is leading both the boys’ and girls’ teams again this year and says that the Wildcats have a solid mix of returning talent from last season along with some eager young faces.
The Cashion girls return several athletes from a year ago that qualified for state and are looking to repeat again this year. Junior Reese Williams is one sprinter to keep an eye on. As a sophomore Williams competed on Cashion’s 4×200 relay team that finished runner-up at state and will be adding the 4×800 to her list of events. Sophomore twins Addison and Sierra McCracken will be joining Williams on the 4×800 relay squad as well. The McCrackens displayed their quick pace and stamina last year in distance events as the twins qualified for state in both the mile and two-mile competition. Sophomore Megan Shafer also returns after an impressive freshman year to the 4×800 relay team along with senior Cheyanne Martinez. The Wildcats are hoping to see sophomore Abby Hobgood fully recover after suffering a lingering injury during the basketball season. In 2022 Hobgood finished 3rd in the 200 and has a good chance of placing again when healthy.
Other young runners for the girls include Story Pfenniger, Chevy Eubanks, Bella Ball, Jaylee Harp, Jayden Malone, and Mackey Roper.
For the boys, senior Boedy Beutler looks to make the most out of his final year in his school competition. Beutler qualified for state in the 110 and 300 hurdles last season and has been having an impressive spring thus far. Junior Gage Bedick will be running the 800 and mile this season. In 2022 Bedick was a medalist in the 1600 middle-distance run. Look for senior Caleb Shafer who will be competing in the 400 and 200 sprints for his final season. Sophomore Luke Bausterst plans on competing in distance races this year. However, Bausterst is also changing things up a bit this spring and will start competing in the pole vault – a first in Cashion High School history. Other young runners for the boys include David Unruh, Luke Holt, and Andrew Sisk.
