Ashley Cadwell turns focus from volleyball and track to the sport of bodybuilding

WEBSTER — It shouldn't come as a surprise that 2022 Webster Area High School graduate Ashley Cadwell stands out in a crowd.

Really, it's just part of an 18-month adventure since she graduated that has included being a member of two college volleyball teams and enjoying a whirlwind ride as a teenager in the sport of bodybuilding, all while getting ready to depart in January for the U.S. Air Force.

"I didn't want to be like everybody else. I wanted to do something that set me apart," said Cadwell, the daughter of Scott and Becky Cadwell. "Bodybuilding isn't too common around here."

She's hit the ground running in a sport dominated mostly by middle-aged competitors, winning her division in most of the bodybuilding events she's competed in since the summer of 2022.

Going to back to the beginning

Ashley's father Scott grew up in Nebraska and later moved with his parents to Tennessee. He excelled in both football and baseball. Her mother Becky grew up as a farm kid in north central Iowa and had her sports time limited because of farm chores. She did play some volleyball.

The Cadwells eventually set up shop north of Webster. Ashley Cadwell played two years of high school volleyball at Webster Area and two years at Langford Area. Her younger sister Gracie is a a senior on the current Webster Area team that opened play in the Region 1A tournament on Tuesday. The sisters have also competed in track and field.

Almost from the beginning, the Cadwells have been a fitness-oriented family.

"It started when I was in the fifth grade, having little workouts with my parents," said Ashley Cadwell. "It didn't become big for me until I got in high school. The lifting really helped with my sports and very good things came out of it."

Still, volleyball seemed to take center stage. She was a freshman setter in the fall of 2022 at Otero College in La Junta (Colo.) and played in handful of matches before transferring to Mayville (N.D.) State University.

All along, weight training remained part of the picture.

"We made lifting a family hobby and it has grown into a need more than a want," Becky Cadwell said. "It’s a stress reliever, to be honest. We incorporated it into both Ashley and Gracie’s offseason time for volleyball and track and Ashley wanted more out of it and decided to compete."

How to take the next step

The Cadwells are certainly not the only family who have used weightlifting as a means of training, but most of us wouldn't have the foggiest idea of how to join the world of competitive bodybuilding.

Ashley Cadwell said she did lot of research on the sport online and went looking for any close competitions she could compete in. Her first competition was in Sioux Falls in the summer of 2022.

"I did all my posing on my own, but it was a good experience," said Cadwell, who know has a coach and even a sponsor to help cover the bills in a sport she says is rather expensive.

Some things are a little different in the bodybuilding arena these days. Groups such of the National Physique Committee put on shows that that include bodybuilding, fitness, figure, bikini and physique categories.

"They're all bodybuilders, it's just different muscle categories that are accentuated," said Ashley.

Ashley has focused on figure and wellness in her bodybuilding competitions. Her string of division wins includes recent victories in events at Omaha and Sioux Falls.

"I'm better at figure, which is more upper body dominant," she said. "Wellness is more lower body dominant."

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What the future holds

Cadwell is now back at home and trains regularly in the old high school gymnasium in Roslyn. Her current plans are to join the Air Force in January, and although such a move may put a temporary hold on her bodybuilding competitions, it shouldn't prevent her from reaching any future goals she has in the sport.

"I'm probably going to take a few years off from competing to build my body a little more, but I don't think joining the Air Force will kept me from making my goals," she said. "I think they'll encourage me working out."

For most part, Cadwell said most of the fellow competitors she's met during her time in the sport are nice and are also focused on putting in the time to get their bodies in shape.

The one big negative is that the sport still includes a number of people who aren't building up their bodies entirely in a natural way.

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"Eventually, the goal for me is to become pro and stay natural," said Cadwell. "And I want to compete against other people who are also natural."

One look at which she accomplished these past couple of years would lead one to believe that her journey could end up going in a wide array of directions.

Still, the focus on training and doing what she can to reach her goals is part of the driving force behind her ambitions.

"It just all goes back to me wanting to be a little different. Once I start something, I'm not going to do it once and be done with it. It's like an addiction, an adrenaline rush," she said. "Yes, there are obviously some bad days, but overall you feel good about yourself and your confidence."

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Feature on 2022 Webster Area High School graduate turned bodybuilder