Hunter Bickell wanted to run in college.

Hunter Bickell College Signing Photo Gallery

The Mexico senior hasn’t let any competition or obstacle deter him as he signed on April 23 to run cross country and track and field for William Woods University in Fulton. Bickell becomes the fourth Mexico runner this year to sign for college and third along with Tyler Grimes and Landon Higgins to go to William Woods.

The four-time cross country state qualifier Bickell said he wasn’t sure he would be able to run in college because he also wants to major in biology to go on the pre-medicine track. He found out there was a way to do both at William Woods and is happy he didn’t have to choose between running and his pre-med studies.

“I mainly needed a way to pay for pre-med so running seemed like a natural route,” Bickell said. “I wanted to run, and I didn’t know if there was a way I could do it and the medicine, and it worked out for me.”

Bickell said he liked what he saw after meeting with the head of the biology department and head of the track and cross country program. He said he was familiar with the facilities after running all over for cross country and knew plenty about the school from his cross country head coach and William Woods alumnus Lucas Breneman. 

Breneman said this year’s group is his biggest group to sign for college and knew Bickell would be part of that ever since Bickell transferred to Mexico after two years at Wellsville-Middletown. He said it was just a matter of where for Bickell. In his two years with Mexico, Breneman has been impressed by Bickell’s eagerness to run in every possible distance event. 

“He's a workhorse,” Breneman said. “He wants you to throw more at him. He’s one of those kids. Just a good example, he said, ‘I want to run everything’ or ‘Put me in as much as you want.’ ‘Let’s run all the events.’ He’s always been one of those that has never shied away from competition, the event or the workouts.”

Along with the four state cross country appearances, Bickell has been cross country all-conference three times (twice for Mexico and once for Wellsville), he has qualified for state track in the 1600 meters and 4x400 and 4x800 relays for Wellsville, and was part of Wellsville's third-place cross country team as a freshman and district championship track and field team as a sophomore. Breneman said this all impressive considering Bickell made the jump from Class 1 to Class 4 competition when he transferred.

“When you transition up three classes in his case, the competition is so much higher,” Breneman said. “Sometimes, kids don’t adjust well to that. He’s never been afraid of the bigger class or competition. I think he’s thrived on it.”

Bickell said “I don’t like to lose” and thinks “if anybody’s going to race with me, I’ll race them.” He said longevity was definitely an area where he had to adjust after his transfer because he went from running at most 40-mile weeks with Wellsville to at least 70-mile weeks with Mexico.

Because of this experience, Bickell thinks he can make the jump to college. He said he would like to “be the best on my team” at William Woods and qualify for nationals. 

“If I’m not good enough, I’ll get better,” Bickell said. “That’s one thing I can be certain of. I don’t think I’ll have any struggles adjusting to college running life.”

Bickell will have Grimes and Higgins at William Woods, so there will be familiar faces to help him adjust to the new setting. He said it was a similar case when he moved to Mexico.

“It’s always good to be familiar with people,” Bickell said. “My grandparents live in Mexico, so I already knew some people coming in. It definitely made it easier to adjust, so I’m sure it will make it easier there to fit in knowing people and knowing people who have attended that school.”