With a strong returning roster led by great experience, the WAHS girls varsity indoor track and field team is primed for this excellent season. Unlike the boys team, the girls are entering this calendar season with a team full of returning seniors and a sizeable amount of quality juniors. However, the boys team looks to keep focus on this year, but also have one eye on the future.
Last year, the boys and girls squads had multiple students qualify for states, with eight individual students and two relay teams placing within the top three at their selective events. Ms. Whitten, coach of girls’ sprints and jumps, seems to be very confident in the ability of her team to put points up on the board. “We have a solid twenty or so girls who can easily put up points, who are great at what they do;” Whitten said, “and when you have a situation like that you’re sitting pretty comfortably.” This girls track and field team is led by twelve returning seniors including Averi Witt, Faith Reid, Sarah Tolman, Emma Ratcliffe, and Madison Masloff to name a few. Along with the seniors, there are some bright sparks of youth that are already competing with those veterans for leading roles on the team.

The boys team last year was led by seniors Gannon Willcutts, Trevor Stutzman, and Jack Ehlenberger. Following their departure, there was a sense that the loss of such quality athletes would leave the boys depleted of skill, however, with the end of the cross country season, some younger faces have been able to showcase enough talent to put them in consideration for expanded roles. Among these names include freshmen Joe Hawkes and Stuart Terrell, and junior, Max Feuerlein. While the boys may not have as much success as they had last year, they are still considered relatively “fresh” with younger talent. In the field events, there are multiple returning athletes, including Jay Adams and Cooper Saunders in the discus and shotput, and Landon Smith and Jackson Smith in the pole vault. There are still a few seniors returning this season, but not quite as many as the girls’ team. The boys’ indoor track and field team is expected to have more success in the following years, as its young talent gains experience, although this year still maintains a positive outlook.