Five Columbus North seniors are breathing a little easier after participating in a signing ceremony Friday afternoon at the school.
Three of those athletes currently are involved in spring sports. That includes a pair of golfers in Henry Kiel and Drew Smith.
“It’s been a goal of mine for a really long time after seeing a whole bunch of my family members play college golf,” said Smith, who is headed to Hillsdale (Michigan). “It’s nice to finally have this confirmation.”
Smith sister Caroline played at Loyola (Chicago), and his sister Rebecca currently plays at LaSalle. His mother Kathy played at Indiana University, and his father Jeff is a golf teaching professional.
Drew Smith picked Hillsdale over Earlham and Washington University in St. Louis. Last year’s The Republic Boys Golfer of the Year, he plans to major in economics or political science.
“I just loved the school more than anything,” he said. “There were a couple of colleges I would have liked to play golf at, but I didn’t like the schools as much. Hillsdale was a really good fit.”
Kiel will play for St. Francis. A state qualifier last season, he currently leads the Bull Dogs with a 75.3 average in 18-hole matches.
Kiel plans to major in economics or business management.
“One of my best friends from the team a couple years ago (Bryce Turner) goes there,” Kiel said. “The program is good, and I’d be able to play a lot.”
John Sluys plans to run cross-country and track at Rose-Hulman. Sluys finished 22nd in this year’s state cross-country meet to earn All-State honors and lead North to a sixth-place team finish.
Sluys, who earned a spot in the Indiana All-Star team that ran in the Mideast Cross-Country Championships, also was accepted at Purdue before settling on Rose-Hulman.
“I wanted to go to a school where I could study mechanical engineering,” Sluys said. “That was my first priority, and when I was searching around, Rose-Hulman was one of those schools that I noticed was well-regarded in the engineering department.
Morgan Smith is headed to wrestle at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky. The team finished second in this year’s NAIA National Championships.
Smith went 27-6 and was a sectional and regional champion this season. He plans to major in criminal justice at Lindsey Wilson.
“They have a really good team,” Smith said. “That’s a big part of it, and their academics are pretty good. I can get an internship in Washington (D.C.) my senior year, and it was on the cheaper side.”
Tay Wells will play football at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The linebacker recorded 75 tackles as a senior in helping lead the Bull Dogs to a Conference Indiana title.
Wells plans to major in exercise science or business. He hopes to be able to land at a Division I school in a couple of years.
“I wanted to go D-I straight out of high school, but it didn’t work out the way I planned it to,” Wells said. “We just took a visit to College of DuPage, and I really liked it a lot.”
