Colby athletes sign with college programs
Not many high school athletes get the opportunity to continue on to the collegiate level, but three Hornets will have the opportunity to do just that. Willow Oehmichen, Tucker Brost, and Caden Healy each signed national letters of intent to play for their respective chosen schools during an event held in the Colby High School cafeteria last Wednesday. Surrounded by family, friends, coaches, teachers, and supportive members of the community, the trio solidified their commitment to their respective chosen schools.
Oehmichen has agreed to attend Minnesota State University-Mankato as part of the track and field team, where she is expected to focus on the pole vault. Brost and Healy will both be playing football, with Brost to attend the University of Wisconsin-Stout and Healy to attend the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
All three athletes have a number of sports related accolades and accomplishments, sometimes spanning multiple sports. Most recently, Oehmichen participated in the state cross country meet and was part of multiple events at last year’s state track meet, including a third place finish in the pole vault. Brost and Healy both received all-region team honors and were named as honorable mentions to the all-state teams following this year’s football season and both were part of the 2021 team that won the state championship. Healy also participated in the state track and field meet last year, taking fifth in the long jump.
The choice of institution for one’s secondary education is an important one for any individual graduating from high school and looking to continue their schooling, but it takes on another layer when athletics are thrown into the equation. That fact was not lost on any of the students, as all noted that finding a good balance between the athletic program and what a university could offer them on the education front was foremost on their minds when making their decision.
“I ended up going with Mankato because I just felt way more comfortable with the coach, the team and the general atmosphere,” Oehmichen said. “But I also liked the campus and the school itself way more than some of the others I was looking at. I have to pick that before I picked the track part.”
“Some schools had a good football team, others had a good engineering program, and they are both equally important to me,” Healy said of his decision. “Duluth was the perfect spot for both.”
“I really liked [UW-Stout] after the official visit. They were telling me about how it’s a hands on school, and that’s the type of learner I am, so that’s a big reason I wanted to go there,” Brost said.
And while the education portion of their decision held a lot of weight and was a big part of why each picked their respective schools, the athletes also noted that the prospect of continuing to foster their sports careers beyond high school was exciting.
“Being able to perfect a position,” Healy said when asked what he is most looking forward to. “I’ll get to perfect a craft. I’ll get to dive way deeper into a single spot, and that’s exciting to me.”
“It sucks that I won’t be able to play with the same guys really ever again, but it’s a opportunity to meet new people and make new friends,” Brost said.
“I’m just excited to be around such good competition,” Oehmichen added. “It’s so exciting and fun to be around girls that are ten times better than you are. It’s such a cool feeling to have so many inspirational girls around you to look up to and compete with.”
