Western is full of talented athletes, but there is one in particular who has been turning a lot of heads this year because of her unbelievable speed. Freshman Reese Mattern is a skilled soccer player and newly-accomplished track runner.

Mattern has loved the game of soccer from a young age: “My cousins grew up playing soccer and I was always around them and just started loving it.” Mattern’s favorite aspect of soccer is being a part of a team.

Her love of soccer has driven her to accomplish many amazing things, especially at such an early age. “I made the East Coast Region 1 team and got selected out of 30 players from the east coast to play on the international team and national team,” Mattern said.

To everyone’s surprise, this is Mattern’s first year ever running track. She said, “I was always the fastest on the soccer field and I first did it to stay in shape for soccer but it became something I really took pride in.”

She came in having zero experience running track and ended up breaking four WAHS records from twenty years ago. When the Western track team went to states, Mattern walked away with an impressive first place in the 300 while simultaneously breaking her personal WAHS record.

Track has become a very beloved sport for Mattern: “I love track because you get to do it all on your own and it’s just you against the clock.” 

Mattern has just begun her track career, and everyone is excited to see where she might take it. Mattern is very hopeful of her future in soccer and track. She said, “My major goals for these sports are to just keep making more accomplishments and hopefully go to college for one of them.”

With these goals, Mattern hopes to continue playing both sports and break even more records.