Wildcats running into new season

The Madill Wildcat Cross Country team is racing towards the 2021 season. One change to the season is the team added a new assistant coach, Brenda McHatton, who brings twenty-two years of cross country experience. She said she made the move from Ardmore to Madill for her family.

“I made the move to Madill to be with my family and still be able to do what I love, coaching cross country and track,” said McHatton.

McHatton is no stranger to Madill, she is a 1993 graduate of Madill High School, where she ran track, high jumped, and played basketball. She achieved many awards, medals and trophies during her high school career. McHatton will be the assistant coach for sixth through twelfth grade cross country and track. She said her main focus is helping the kids.

“My goal is to help each kid get better every day and help the kids achieve his/her goals. I also want to help improve the running programs at Madill and add numbers to our program,” said McHatton.

Still leading the Wildcats is Head Cross Country and Track coach, Cale Eidson. Eidson is starting his seventh year with the Wildcats. He said the excitement for the upcoming season is palpable.

“We are excited for the season to start,” Eidson said. “The practice meet is August 21 at Ardmore at 8 a.m. and the official season kicks off on August 28 at Marietta with an 8 a.m. start time for both middle and high school.”

Madill had nine seniors graduate last May from the cross country team. Eidson said while those seniors will be missed, a good group of returning runners are doing well, including seniors Anthony Sanchez and Isabel Sanchez.

“Anthony and Isabel are not only cousins, but leaders for our teams,” said Eidson.

Assistant Coach Kyle Callison starts his fourth year coaching cross country at Madill. Callison is a 2008 graduate from Madill High School. While in high school, he played football, basketball and baseball. Even though cross country was not his sport in school, he said he feels he can still contribute to it.

“While I didn’t run cross country in high school, I can still make a difference in the cross-country kids’ lives,” said Callison.

Eidson said the team is still forming.

“I won’t have a complete list of all our cross-country runners until school starts,” Eidson said. “We practice at City Lake, Monday through Thursday, until school starts. It’s important for the athletes to bond as a team.”

The first bonding experience for the runners was on July 22, when the team traveled to Sulphur for practice.

“We ran and did our workout then the kids swam, we ate burgers and hot dogs,” said McHatton. “It was a great time for the team to relax, bond, and have fun.”

On August 3, the team traveled with Cowetta High School to Roberts Cave in Wilburton for a retreat. The athletes did a workout every morning and evening. The workouts consisted of running many miles, many hills and friendly competition.

The retreat ended with an Iron Man Challenge with six teams where running, swimming, doing pushups and high fives were required.

“We took 24 runners on the retreat,” Eidson said. “This is why I coach cross-country; I love to share one of my biggest loves with others and try to teach them to love it as much as I do,” Eidson said. Eidson ran cross country at Calera High School where he was a three-time individual state champion.

At East Central University, Eidson was a three time all conference and all region runner, two time individual conference runner up, as well as part of three conference championship teams and a national qualifying team in 2011 that placed eleventh in the country. Eidson was also named to the Great American Conference all decade team last year.

“This season will start like any other season,” said Eidson. “We’re going to put in the work this summer to reach our goals in the fall.”

All three coaches encourage the community to come watch and support the runners. “We will have the Cat Run on September 4 at 9 a.m. and we will host the Lake Country Conference meet on September 11 at 9 a.m. with both meets held at City Lake,” said Eidson.