Western Illinois junior student-athlete Cayson Frerichs grew up fascinated by weather as a force. He was always glued to the television watching local Quad Cities meteorologists Anthony Peoples and Terry Swails.  

"How can something be so powerful and man have no control over it?," Cayson pondered. 

Flash forward to Cayson's freshman year of college, he had just wrapped a stellar cross country and track career at Geneseo High School and was still struck by the weather. Cayson initially majored in meteorology at WIU before switching his focus to broadcasting. At first, he was not interested in combining the two fields.  

"I job shadowed James Zahara at WQAD News 8 in the Quad Cities and was not really into it," Cayson said. "I didn't like the idea of actually being on camera."

Cayson eventually warmed up to the idea when a weather anchor spot opened up with WIU's student newscast NEWS3 Live at Four. Just like a cross country or track meet, Cayson had some nerves before his first show.

"You have all the nerves and butterflies going on the first time going into it," Cayson said. "I was super nervous and had a ton of hiccups along the way. I've always been one to get super nervous before everything at a track meet. I was the same way at a few of the newscasts, but just like track, it becomes more of a routine for you and you become more comfortable in front of the camera. You go in feeling a lot more confident. If you go in having that confidence, whether it's here doing the weather or running, it's going to make you feel less nervous."

Putting together a forecast is more than talking in front of a green screen. For Cayson, it required hours of preparation, in addition to his schoolwork and athletic commitments, to make sure things were done and said accurately on air. 

"I start by working on slides and graphics," Cayson said. "You can get forecasts from a lot of different sites on the internet. It's also good to look at different models like Pivotal Weather and the National Weather Service. I'll pull up my slides to see what kind of things we can talk about besides just going through normal temperatures and what the radar is. I try to make it more personable, so everyone can understand it better, and I’ll bring up interesting things that are going on with weather lately in the area and country." 

Cayson also educates his cross country coach Brandon Hazouri from time to time. 

"Coach Hazouri came up to me confused as to why there was a 90 percent chance of rain and it wasn't actually raining," Cayson said. " I explained that 90 percent chance means there's a 90 percent chance of an area of rain to be covered and that you can download an app with an actual radar on it. He learned a little bit and coaches come to me asking if it's going to rain. It's been cool to use it in the sport too." 

Cayson has time to decide what he wants to do next in the future and will consider all of his options, including his newly-discovered knack for weather reporting. 

"It's something I thought about,” Cayson said. "I'm not entirely sure what exactly I want to do as a career because I'm also very invested in sports broadcasting. After doing the weather for NEWS3, I wasn't so sure and didn't think it was my niche at first. After doing it more, I feel that if there is an opportunity to go to a news station to be a meteorologist or weather anchor, it's definitely something I would enjoy doing."

For right now, Cayson will stick to being the weatherman for his Leatherneck cross country and track teammates.

"My teammates joke with me that I can be wrong," Cayson said with a grin. "A majority of the time, I think I can get it right."