By Reagan Hoverman

Although technically the boys’ and girls’ track and field programs are different teams, they both have the same goal of winning a conference title and sending as many athletes to state as possible.

For the girls, the last conference championship was the 2015 season. Since then, there have been a couple of close calls and runner-up finishes including last year’s secondplace finish in the conference standings.

For head coach Kady Bauschelt and the girls, they have their sights set on getting over that hump and winning the Big Rivers Conference championship this season. The strength of this girls’ track and field team is the short-distance runners.

“Right now, our sprinters are loaded for the girls’ team,” Bauschelt said. “We have some strong distance girls as well. We have a lot of girls returning from our team last year so I’m excited to see what they will be able to do this season.”

Returning leadership for the Wildcats includes seniors Elise Frisbie, Brinley Kugel and Morgan Priggie. According to Bauschelt, they will be some of the top athletes to watch for the 2022 season, as they lead the team by example and aren’t traditional vocal leaders. Bauschelt spoke about the outlook for the 2022 season.

“Our outlook is to try hard to win the conference, and from there, get as many athletes to the state competition as possible,” Bauschelt said. “We are trying to instill a team atmosphere, so the athletes are watching, cheering and ready to compete for a conference title.”

Two of the most impactful seniors from last season who graduated were Kyla Kubera and Alison Weissinger, two student-athletes who competed at an extremely high level for River Falls.

“Kyla Kubera was a senior that we lost last year that was very impactful for our short sprints,” Bauschelt said. “With her and Rebecca Randleman, Brooklyn Silloway and Elise Frisbie. They represented our 100, 4×100 and 4×200 relays at state. Along with Kyla, we lost Allison Weissinger from our distance group who was a state qualifier in the 1,600meter run and a strong leader. Aside from them, the majority of our team is back and ready to go.”

The girls have had success this season throughout the indoor meets in the opening month of the season. Just as Bauschelt stated, the sprints and short-distance runners have been strong for the lady Wildcats.

Just as Max Haskins stated with the boys’ roster, Bauschelt spoke highly of the coaching staff for the girls’ track and field program.

“Our coaching staff is absolutely amazing,” Bauschelt said. “We all work so well together. We are showing our athletes how important good relationships between friends and coaches are, and to model hard work and communication, as well as having fun and enjoying what you are doing at the same time.”

For Bauschelt, she is aware of the history of the program, the success that the girls’ track and field program has had historically, and that she and the rest of the coaching staff are filling some big shoes at the top of the program.

“We have big shoes to fill because of the past coaches that established a very competitive and solid program,” Bauschelt said. “We are hoping to just keep that rolling and improve with each moment during our season.”

Up next for the lady Wildcats is a meet in Colfax on Thursday, April 21. Other schools at that meet include Eau Claire Memorial, Boyceville, Elmwood, Mc-Donell Central Catholic and Menomonie. That meet is slated to begin at 4 p.m.

y of River Falls track