Spring Sports
By: Ellie Talich
The days and weeks may feel like they take forever, but the months and seasons seem to fly by. Winter sports have ended over the past few weeks, and spring sports are beginning with no time for breaks. Sports started this week, including track and field, soccer, and softball. Cody has always excelled at providing many activities for students to participate in.
Soccer is played in the spring in Wyoming, unlike most other states. The girls' soccer team is coached by Marian Miears, who has been a part of this program for many years and has brought great success. The boys' soccer team will attempt to defend their state title from last year, and Randy Rockey will coach this team. With every sport comes challenges and excitement. A sophomore defender, Kimber Christler exclaims, “I’m excited for all of the games and overnight trips and getting to know everyone better.” Oftentimes the sport itself isn't the thing that athletes remember most, it is the memories made outside of competing.
Track and field has competed in class 4A for many years and has moved down to 3A this year, along with many other programs. Coming off the winter indoor track season, the future is looking bright. The girls and boys won indoor track and came home as state champions. Each event has specialized coaches, but Bret Engdahl is the head track and field coach. Not only is track physically tricky, but there is also a mental aspect. A junior Gabe Bree says, “Track also makes you mentally strong because no workout is easy and you must keep going.” Track as a whole is seen as a team sport, because that is what scoring is based on, but individuals have to compete at high levels to earn points for their team. Which is different from many sports, so performing at high levels all the time is the standard.
Softball is a growing sport in Wyoming. With the development of softball expanding there is always a question on whether it is positively developing, Amelia Reinker a junior softball player states, “I think softball is developing positively in Wyoming because more schools are creating high school softball teams and recognizing it as a high school sport, and even in Cody it’s developing positively because we’ve opened our team up to outside towns.” Softball is going on its fifth year of being an option in Cody, and it took some time to build the program, but they have had great success making it to state every year so far.
There are significant steps to take from last year's spring sports results, which will continue this year. Be sure to support all teams over the next few months of the school year and stay updated on all the accomplishments.