ORU Grant Covers Track & Field Team Expenses

A $3,500 grant from Wiregrass Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round Up program will help cover expenses for Ashford High School’s track and field team.

Coach Brandon McCardle says the grant will help cover hotel costs for the team’s travel to the state competition in Gulf Shores. The team has gone to the state every year since the program was created nearly 13 years ago. Students raise between $10,000 and $12,000 each year to help cover team expenses like competition fees and travel costs.

“We try to keep the philosophy that those who are raising money now, even if you’re in the seventh or eighth grade and you’re raising money, you’re helping a senior or junior achieve their dreams of going to state, and that’s eventually going to be you in that place,” says McCardle, who has coached the team for eight years. “So, we try to build it forward.”

Track and field — which includes events like long jump, shot put, high jump, and hurdles — has grown at Ashford High School with the team’s success at competitions. Many of the athletes participate in other sports as well.

“When I took over, we started with six players, six runners, and now we have 38 players on the team,” McCardle says.