A year filled with long practices, bus rides to away games and practically never going home when the last bell rings at 3:00 is what three-sport athlete Cassidy Hutchins, ’11, has come to know as normal.

In addition to her normal regimen of volleyball and soccer, Hutchins joined the track team because of a deal she made with senior Janae Ford first semester. Hutchins convinced Ford to play soccer, offering to do track in the spring in return.

Hutchins says she is glad Ford convinced her to do track this year and plans on being on the team for the rest of her high school career. Although track and soccer are very different sports, she has loved the experience as a member of the track team so far.

“The camaraderie is so much different from any other sport I’ve played because it is a co-ed team,” Hutchins said. “Soccer is competitive and physical; in track you learn to be friends with your opponents. It was hard to adjust at first because I am so competitive.”

Although soccer requires strenuous physical effort, Hutchins found that track requires a whole new level of athleticism.

“The conditioning was hard — I didn’t realize how out of shape I was,” Hutchins said. “After jumping rope, sprints and bear crawls I get pretty beat. It pays off to give full effort because I really reap the benefits if I work to improve.”

After an injury at the first meet of the season doing hurdles, Hutchins did not want to give up; however, practicing the jumps worsened the injury and prevented her from competing in both hurdles and long jump.

After the injury, she found her niche in both the 4×1 and 4×4 relays, as well as in the 100 meter and 200 meter events. Hutchins went on to win two first place medals, her first time competing in the relay events against Fowler in the league meet, April 29.

During one practice in the pouring rain, Ford still had one 350 meter to run. Everyone else was done and Coach Yoder was getting ready to time Ford. Hutchins ran with her because she wanted to encourage her friend along the way.

“Cassidy contributes a lot to the team; she is so encouraging and inspiring as she overcomes her injury.” Ford said. “She is a valuable part of our 4×1. Without her, we wouldn’t have a complete team.”

Hutchins still found a way to contribute even while injured. She attended every practice, even when she could not participate physically. She also helped keep other teammates’ time while being encouraging to her team.

Ford and other teammates enjoyed taking advantage of Hutchins’ being new to the team. After accidentally cutting her leg with spike on her shoe, Hutchins says she was unhappy that she had a scratch prior to the league meet.

Ford told Hutchins the cut would get infected because of a poison spray put on the track the day before. Playing along, a competitor from Fowler agreed with Ford, showing a scratch of her own that had turned into a scar. Hutchins was convinced that this cut was a lot worse than it actually was. The girls fooled her for about five minutes and then relieved Hutchins, assuring her it was just a joke.

Despite being new to track, Hutchins has always participated in school sports.

“I’ve always been involved with sports: I’ve played soccer since freshman year, volleyball since fifth grade and I used to play softball from third grade until this year.” Hutchins said, “I stopped softball because our school did not have a team this year. In a way, I am thankful because not playing softball gave me the opportunity to do track.”

Track teammate Kyser Anderson, ’12, enjoys Hutchins’ addition to the group.

“She was very exciting and funny,” Anderson said. “She was fun to hang around with because she made all of us laugh.”

Anderson says he is proud of Hutchins for the commitment she had to the team for her first year in track.

“She coped really well with her injury,” Anderson said. “She could not practice much, but she still ran her races. She also took physical therapy. She did very good for her first year and also having to deal with an injury.”

For more information on the track team read the May 19 article Senior refines track skills or track sports shorts.