Track team returns some top performers, boys and girls

The sky is the limit for Cascade Kodiak track team in 2017. There are 40 students turning out, including some top performers. Head Coach Bill Davies said he is excited about the turnout of freshman boys and girls. 

Of course, leading the way is six-time state champion, senior Erin Mullins, looking to cap off her record setting career. The 4x200 team of Maddy Parton, Addie Astell, Emily Gains and Lauren Richardson won the state title. The 4x100 team of Astell, Richardson, Ashley Parton and Maddy Parton finished third. Everyone returns but Maddy Parton, who is playing college soccer now. 

On the boys’ side, Davies expects senior Jayden Disher to have a good year. 

“Jayden will be in the 400, high jump, hurdles. Distance wise, we’ll have Elijah Fisburne for the first time. He was a good cross country runner,” Davies said. “We’ll be better in the throws this year, so javelin should improve. Look for Teague Duncan. He is a pretty talented freshman. He’ll run 400, 200 and probably a short relay. Look for freshman Steven Tveten in the pole vault and high jump. He’s just an incredible athlete for a 14-year old kid.”

With so many turning out, Davies said he will have to look at JV meets for the first time. He feels his team is well rounded and should compete well at the dual and open meets. 

“At the big invitationals, because of Erin and the relays, we’ll always score points. When we get to state, we’ll score quite a few points. In the dual meets, I think we’re pretty well filled, so we might get the best of both,” Davies said. “But you never know. Cashmere is so darn strong. We’ll find out when we see what Cashmere has. They will have a great team this year. They have great coaches.”

Davies said he would like to see the girls win league and district again. He would like to see the boys place in the top three in league. 

“The boys are coming up. We’re starting to grow in the boys team,” Davies said. “I would like to see the boys team continue to improve.”

There is the possibility of taking anywhere from four to eight athletes to state. Just like all the other sports, the track team is dealing with the snow. 

“It is a bummer. We’ll be in the gym for another week. We’ve been doing a lot of drills, lot of conditioning inside. The beauty of track is that nothing counts until the end. I tell my kids, we really only have one track meet and all the rest are practices,” Davies said. “You hit districts and that is the one that counts. That is the advantage to our sport.” 

The first meet for the Kodiaks is the Ray Cross Invitational in Ephrata on March 25. 

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.