Track, Field Team Optimistic about New Season
Jared Holley
Manchester University track and field look to compete at the highest level this upcoming year. The Manchester Spartans is coached by Brian Cashdollar, who is entering his 22nd year at Manchester.
Under Cashdollar’s guidance, the cross country programs have won a combined 15 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championships. “Our goals for each other are to be ready to run our best in late October and mid-November,” Cashdollar says. “If we stay accountable to each other and to ourselves we should achieve this goal.”
This year’s team seems to be one of the smallest in recent years, but Hannah Brubaker puts it in a positive light. “It’s definitely not a bad thing,” she says. “Because the team is so small, we have been able to develop special relationships with each other.
“We are more than teammates, we are friends,” she continues. “We all care about each other so much, so when we’re racing, we’re not racing for just ourselves, we’re racing for each other.”
Cashdollar agrees. “With the size of our teams right now, we need to expect everyone to practice and race like a stand out.”
Brubaker believes that the team is filled with talent and that the program really helps athletes to become the best runner they can be. She especially notes runners Lauren Smith and Fiona Frost for their leadership qualities, as well as Madi Hilliker, who she says has “an impeccable work ethic and commitment to the team."