By JOE SCALZO

By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- There's a reason why Cachet Murray is so fast.
She doesn't stop.
"As soon as track season was over, I had a basketball game the next day," Murray, who will be a junior at Girard High this fall, said. "I never get a break."
Murray burst onto the Ohio track scene as a freshman, winning the 100- and 200-meter titles in Division II. She then repeated in both events at last month's state meet.
Only this time, she was faster.
"This year was a lot different because I had been there before," said Murray, The Vindicator girls track and field athlete of the year. "Everybody was looking for me to come back and take it. They were my titles to lose.
"I didn't want to be one of those girls you see one time and then forget about. I wanted to do better."
Murray's marks
She did -- setting state records in both events.
"This year I worked hard at track practice, so I could perform better than last year," she said. "And I never got screamed at by my sprint coach [Walt Brame]. Last year he'd say, 'Cachet, what are you doing? You have a race!' Now he's saying, 'That's my girl. She's at her race.' That was my goal, not to get screamed at."
After running both the 4x100 and 4x200 relays as a freshman, Murray dropped the 4x200 this season to focus on the long jump.
Murray entered the state meet with the longest qualifying jump, but one of her coaches changed her steps just before the meet.
She didn't make it out of the finals.
"It was good in a way because now I know I can fail," she said. "That gives me something to work hard for next year."
She'll also have to learn to run without two of her teammates, graduating seniors Stephanie Scarnecchia and Jenny Sopkovich. Both struggled with injuries this season -- Sopkovich wasn't able to run -- and Murray worries that track won't be as much fun.
"It's a little bit much, losing two of my closest friends," she said.
She'll also lose her closest rival -- Liberty senior Jessica White.
"It's gonna be kinda hard because Jessica is like my sister," she said. "No, it's gonna be real hard."
Two-sport standout
Murray is also a basketball standout -- it's still her favorite sport -- but she knows her future will likely be in track.
"My dream is to go to college in both," she said. "My grandma [Amelia] doesn't want me to do both. It's bad enough now in high school -- it's like working two jobs.
"She always tells me I need to rest, but I don't listen most of the time."
Murray has plenty of time to worry about that. For now, she's just trying to get faster and improve in both sports.
"I still have a lot of goals I haven't reached yet," she said.
scalzo@vindy.com