Photo by Steve Buchanan Photography
North Caroline High School, Indoor & Outdoor Track
Sam Cash showed her potential during her sophomore year running indoor and outdoor track. Cash, a recent North Caroline High graduate, placed high in three different events—second in the high jump, and third in both the 100-meter and 300 hurdles—in the Class 2A state championships.
But that wasn’t good enough for the recent graduate, so she spent much of her junior year working on her favorite event: the hurdles. “I really practiced a lot during those seasons,” Cash recalls. “A lot more than previous years. I really perfected my technique.”
The 5-foot-8 Cash worked on getting out of the blocks quicker and jumping over the hurdles more smoothly. Her efforts produced the desired result. Cash, who never ran track before high school, won a state championship in the 55 hurdles in February 2020. She shaved nine seconds off her time from the meet in 2019.
“I put all my hard work and energy toward that,” the Denton resident says. “It felt like it was a major accomplishment, and it brought me a lot of joy when I saw my mom and coaches jumping up and down.”
Her success helped pave the way for a scholarship offer from Division II West Virginia Wesleyan. Cash committed to the school in November and signed a National Letter of Intent in April. The Naval Academy also recruited her.
“She has really good times in her events across the board,” says West Virginia Wesleyan Track and Field Assistant Coach Andrea Chidester, who recruited Cash. “That’s what sparked our interest. She has a very high ceiling. She sends me videos all the time of jumps. She has so much untapped potential. I think she is going to be a big contributor for our program.”
Cash loves the enthusiasm Chidester and Wesleyan Track and Field Head Coach Alan Crise expressed for her during a visit in August 2020. “The coaches made me feel like I was already part of the team,” Cash says. “I felt really comfortable being there. It fulfilled a dream of doing a sport in college. Once I started doing track, I knew I wanted to do it in college because I love the sport.”
Cash has already set a lofty goal. “It would be really cool if I could make it to nationals in college,” she says of the Division II Men’s and Women’s Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field championships. Chidester adds, “I love to hear that and we have some big plans for her. It’s not out of reach.”
Cash made Bayside Conference Championships history in January 2020. She became only the second athlete to win four events and she finished on top in the 55 hurdles, high jump, the 300, and 500. “She is the one that would always be in the finals,” North Caroline Track Coach Joe Witek says. “What a competitor she was. If she was not first, then she was last in her eyes. She did all the right things. She was willing to help the sophomores and juniors if they were willing to put in the work.”
Cash’s main sport growing up was lacrosse. She couldn’t participate in it in high school since she ran outdoor track. So, Cash played soccer despite having no experience. The 18-year-old became a valuable contributor, starting for two years on the jayvee and another two on the varsity.
“She came out, worked very hard, and was coachable,” North Caroline Girls Soccer Coach Mike Penn says. “She had grit and did the dirty work other kids wouldn’t. She always hustled. If she got beat by a player, she would hustle to catch up.” With Cash’s success in track, we know beating her is not easy.
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