Three-school co-op helps put Cherry on the track

CHERRY—If there’s one team that might fly under the radar, it would be the Cherry High School boys and girls track teams.

That’s because the Tigers join forces with North Woods and South Ridge to form a formidable force in Section 7A.

The only problem—the three teams hardly ever get to practice together, so events are put together on the fly.

Wyatt Helgeson and his counterparts Jeremy Polson, Robby Peterson, Ben Ellefson and Daniel Squires do make the most out of a difficult situation.

“It’s difficult because we don’t usually get together until the subsections and sections,” Helgeson said. “We plan a practice or two to work on handoffs. That’s the only time we do that, so our first couple of meets are interesting because that’s when we see the other coaches for the first time.

“We see our athletes to see what they can do, but after a couple of meets, we settle into place, and we see who has the best runners and jumpers. We work with our kids to fill those areas that need to be filled. It presents some difficulty in scheduling.”

As far as the Tigers’ athletes go, Helgeson has seniors Matt Joki, Ann Sink, Kaden Thronson, Harmony Aikey, Isaiah Arvola and Trace Ulmer.

“Matt is one of our best runners, and Kaden is good in the throws,” Helgeson said. “We have a lot of younger runners in the seventh- and eighth-grades that are showing a lot of potential as well.

The junior class consists of Joey Smith, Alana Jensen, Cheyenne Hankins, Kiara Steele and Julie Kuhn.

Sophomores include Kaelyn Nelson, Riley Hill, Rylyn Cooper, Zach Repensky and Cayman Hill.

“We’ve got Kiara in the throws, and we also have Harmony in the sprints and jumps,” Helgeson said. “We have some younger athletes that are showing potential in the sprinting and distances.

“We don’t have a lot of people in the sprints, but we do have some good distance runners and some good throwers. The sprints and jumps are the areas we need to fill.”

Once the three schools finally do get together, the goal is to get as many athletes into the subsection and section meets.

“That’s the goal,” Helgeson said. “It’s also all about getting to know the kids and to build those friendships. It’s good to see the participation level at our school, then build on that with the other schools they’re competing with.

“I think the student engagement is one of the unique things in track and field. It attracts all different kinds of kids. We see a broader range of kids that are involved and participating in something.”