Elly Cash’s successful season in the sprinting events continues.

The Wellsville-Middletown sophomore left Montgomery County High School on May 2 with second-place medals in the 100 and 200 at the Eastern Missouri Conference meet. She ran 13.75 seconds in the 100 and 27.74 seconds in the 200 to earn second-team honors in both events, making it the first time she was named on the all-EMO track team.

“It feels really good,” Cash said. “I came into this meet pretty confident. I’ve been doing pretty good recently, so I tried keeping a positive mindset and it worked.”

The effort at the EMO meet was one of many highlights Cash had in the sprinting events this spring. She has five first-place finishes, breaking last year’s mark of two, and became the school record holder in the 200 on April 25 at the Paris Invitational.

“I was really looking for better times this year,” Cash said. “I did pretty good in my freshman year, but I wanted to do great this year and I’ve been putting in the work at practice.and having a positive mindset. So that really helps with my times. I’m doing a lot better and I’m really happy about that.”

Now, Cash is setting her sights on qualifying for the Class 1 state meet for the second straight year. Her quest for Jefferson City begins on Saturday, when the Tigers compete in the District 4 championship meet at New Haven.

Last year, Cash finished third in the 100 and 200 at districts and qualified for sectionals at both events. She won a sectional title in the 100 the following week to advance to state.

“I’m super excited,” Cash said. “I ran a pretty good race at New Haven last year, which got me into sectionals. My times are way better this year, so I’m really excited. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Cash was one of the Tigers’ top performers at the EMO meet. Senior Gage Marshall placed second in the high jump in 6 feet, 2.75 inches, third in the long jump in 19-7.5 and sixth in the 400 in 55.96 seconds. Senior Cooper Henderson finished fifth in the high jump, senior Jonah Slovensky placed sixth in the 300-meter hurdles, junior Isaac Todd came in sixth in the discus, the 400-meter boys relay team of Marshall, Slovensky, Henderson and senior Justin Beabout finished fifth and the 3,200-meter relay team of seniors Della Gosseen and Julia Dias, junior Lorelei Smith and sophomore Aubrey Harmon placed sixth.

The Tigers finished seventh in the boys division with 31 points and 11th in the girls division with 24. W-M didn’t have any individual EMO champions for the first time since 2019.

Cash earned fifth-place medals in the 200 and 4x800 in last year’s EMO meet, which was also held at Montgomery County. She said competing in the EMO meet is not easy.

“It’s definitely challenging,” the sophomore said. “There are a lot of big schools and a lot of good athletes here. I love our conference. There’s a lot of competition.”’

Cash finished second to Bowling Green sophomore Alli Hustedde in both the 100 and 200 at the EMO meet. Hustedde ran 13.60 in the 100 and 27.74 in the 200.

“Coming into the meet, I knew Bowling Green was going to be here,” said Cash, who also finished eighth in the 400. “I knew that she was going to be here and be one of my biggest competitors. It just wants to make me strive harder for my events. She really helped me push harder.”

Just a week before the EMO meet, Cash ran 27.66 seconds in her second-place finish in the 200 at the Paris Invitational. She is the current record holder in the 100 at 13.21 seconds, which she set in last year’s Class 1 state meet.

“That was the first time I ran in the 27s,” Cash said. “It was like a really good feeling. It helped me be more confident about all of my other events.”

Cash broke the previous record of 27.92, which was set by Bethany Slovensky in 2021.

“I didn’t know I beat it,” Cash said. “I knew I PR’ed, but I didn’t know I ran that fast to break a school record until Mrs. Slovensky pulled me aside and told me. That made me really happy. I knew I ran fast, but I didn’t know I ran that fast.”

Four days later, Cash won the 100 and 200 at the Louisiana Invitational. She surpassed her own school record in the 200, running 27.61 seconds. She ran 13.23 seconds in the 100, coming up short of her own school record.