Sydney Nichol of Sweet Home has signed a letter of intent to run at Corban University.
Nichol signed earlier this year, she said.
She won the state 2A 800-meter title this season for East Linn Christian Academy and was second in the 3000. She had six other top-four finishes at state state in the 800, 1500 and 3000 the three previous years. She also finished in the top seven twice at the state cross-country championships after switching from volleyball as a junior.
Nichol, whose father Dustin is head football coach at Sweet Home, said she chose Corban over Northwest Christian and Eastern Oregon partly due to its location and because she wants to major in math to become a teacher.
“I was really thinking I wanted to go to one of these places,” she said. “First, I wanted to be a physical therapist, but after looking at the program, I didn’t want to go to school for six years. I decided to be a teacher because I like working with kids and stuff. I like math too.”
She noted that if she teaches, she would be following in the footsteps of her parents – her mother Heide teaches at ELCA – and her grandparents.
She said she had frequent communication with Corban Head Coach Norm Berney and distance coach Brent Fahsholtz.
“They came to a couple of my meets and during the basketball season Berney made it to four or five of my games.
“I got to know them. It was really sweet of them to come.”
She said she expects to compete primarily in the 400 and 800 in college track, but Berney has mentioned the steeplechase as a possibility as well. She’s run 1:00.54 in the 400, 2:18.60 in the 800, 4:51.81 in the 1500 and 10:35 in the 3000.
Nichol said she hopes to get into coaching herself.
“I’ve kind of done a little bit of everything – volleyball, basketball, cross-country, track. It’s also been a goal in my my mind, taking some classes in coaching.”