The Wildcats of North Union may have lost some top-tier track and field talent to graduation, but they have sprouted some more talent in other events.
North Union has made the move from the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference, where both the girls and boys team stook sixth place last year, to the Central Buckeye Conference this season.
Head coach Jerry Sparks said the teams will have the challenge of feeling out the league to see who is strong.
“Being new to the conference, we have not seen many of the teams on our side of the league,” he said. “We did run against Tecumseh, which has a strong team, and we have London on our side.”
As the new face in the CBC, the Lady Cats will lean on Sydney Bacon in the shot put and discus.
“Sydney is our strong female thrower,” said Sparks.
Bacon made her way to the Division III regional meet last year and is already looking to improve upon last year.
She broke the school record in the girls shot put with a throw of 34-5 within the first two meets of the current season.
The Lady Cats will also have a strong distance runner in Kamryn Rhodes. She already has experience with distance running against CBC athletes during her time in cross-country.
Rhodes finished as the third best runner at the CBC cross-country meet last fall and was named to the all-conference team.
She has returned to the Lady Cats’ track team to compete in the 3,200 and 1,600 meter events.
The boys squad will have strong distance runners with Adam Brown and Brennan Griffith.
They also gained CBC experience during cross-country.
returning to team, also with CBC experience running for the cross-country team.
Brown, who also runs middle-distance for the Wildcats, was able to advance to the regional meet last year where he recorded a seventh-place finish in the 800 run.
Some of the top sprinters for the Wildcats are Carson Smith and Josh Cahill.
Jaxon Harrah, Braxton Conal and Zach Millard are NU’s strongest athletes in the shot put and discus.
Editor’s note: no pictures were available for the NU track teams at presstime.