The McClain Lady Tigers track and field program look for the light at the end of the tunnel as their fourth year head coach Jake Orr-Zody tries to stay positive that a 2020 track and field season will happen for the student athletes that came out for the McClain program that consists of 40 plus as a team and five seniors that intended on leading this team.
Coach Jake Orr-Zody stated “Coach Roble and I created a workout plan for the team in hopes that when and if the time does come that they will be in shape and ready to get back on track when this pandemic ends.”
“We plan to have a face-time conference with all over our kids at the end of this week to see how they are all doing during this time and to see if they’re staying in shape.” said Coach Orr-Zody
The five seniors on this 2020 Lady Tigers track and field team are Ashley Hardesty, Madison Stapleton, Verda Adams, Justise Boyd, Desire Seymour.
Their is 12 returning lettermen for this girls program not including three seniors Hardesty and Stapleton, Boyd.
McClain juniors Maddy Crawford, Emma Stegbauer, Kerigan Pollard, Maysun Faulconer, Taylor Harper, Ella Osborne, and sophomores Aaliyah Evans, Iva Easter, Lexi Jones, Shayna Beatty, Zoe Rios are also returning lettermen for the team.
“Kerigan Pollard missed the state track meet by one place last year in the 300m hurdles. She made it to the regional in the 100m dash, 4x100m relay, and the 300m hurdles. She’s quite an athlete in everything she does.”
“Iva Easter, Ashley Hardesty and Emma Stegbauer were on the 4x100m relay team that made it to the finals at the regional with Pollard and extremely close to qualifying for the state meet. All the members of that team are going to be huge contributors for us. All these ladies are extremely talented and we’re looking forward to watching them compete.”
“Also big contributing returners from last year are Maddy Crawford in the jumps, Zoe Rios in the 100h and sprints (regional finalists), Lexi Jones in the Hurdles and sprints and Maysun Faulconer in the throws. We’re also looking forward to the senior leadership of Maddi Stapleton and her High Jumping. We are very excited to see the growth of our rising sophomores Iva Easter, Zoe Rios and Lexi Jones.”
Freshman class was expecting to have some very helpful in different area with Mackenzie Anderson running sprints and being apart of relays, Ryan Butterbaugh also doing sprints, hurdles, and being a part of relays also, Brynli Bergstrom joins the program to take her place in mid-distance, Rachel Alverez and Haley Legge will be running long distance, Abby Mustard will be throwing her freshman year.
“This team has a lot of experience in different areas and has some up and comers with a lot of potential that can really help us if look to have a chance in the Frontier Athletic Conference.” said Coach Orr-Zody
Jake Orr-Zody stated “I hate to see the girls not being able to play high school sports, especially the seniors but we will have to see this virus out until the end and listen to what the governor says what we can do.”
Reach Tate Erkenbrecher at 937-402-2572.
