Great Bend High School senior Ali Heilman signed on the dotted line on Wednesday to run track and cross country at Ottawa University.
Ottawa head cross country/track and field coach Kirk Wren said he came across Heilman’s name over the past year while scanning through results from throughout the state.
“I’ve been coaching at Ottawa for 16 years,” Wren said. “Great Bend has produced a lot of student-athletes.
“Just going through some results, we saw that. She filled out a questionnaire for us and we started calling her and came for a visit.”
Heilman said she liked what she saw.
“I knew that I wanted to run in college,” she said, “and Ottawa seemed like the right place.
“The cross country team seemed really cool and laid back ... it wasn’t all about winning or anything like that.”
An honor roll student at GBHS, Heilman said she wants to go into the physical science program at Ottawa.
“I know I want to do something with the body,” she said. “Strength and things like that.
“I never thought that I’d be playing sports in college, so that’s cool.”
Heilman won’t be competing for GBHS on Friday, when it travels to Junction City to take part in the Junction City Invitational. It starts at 3 p.m. at Al Simpler Stadium.
Heilman, whose specialty is the 800-meter run, has been bothered by knee problems this spring, preventing her from competing thus far.
“She’s going to be a nice addition to the Ottawa program,” GBHS head cross country/track assistant coach Todd Kaiser said. “She’s been on varsity for four years and this year, she’s had a little bit of trouble with her Achilles’ tendon.
“Right now, she’s having a little trouble with her right knee. Once she gets healthy and gets back to where she was from her freshman through her junior years, she’s going to be really, really good.”