Crooksville athletes pick colleges

McLUNEY - Two Crooksville athletes chose their colleges Tuesday during a ceremony after school at the high school.

Kate Mills chose Bethany and Katie Stewart inked with Union College in front of a gaggle of family and friends. Mills plays basketball and softball, and Stewart is an archer.

Mills chose Bethany over Wooster and Wheeling Jesuit.

"It's a small town like Crooksville," Mills said of Bethany, located in the West Virginia panhandle just north of Wheeling. "I really felt like home when I walked on campus."

Mills, known for her hard-nosed play, was a starting guard on the basketball team, but she will play softball for the Bison. She is a starting outfielder for coach Greg Williams' softball team.

The Bison, currently 20-18, participate in the Presidents' Athletic Conference.

"It's going to be a lot better than high school. It's going to be a new experience with new people," Mills said. "It will be softball year-round, which will be nice."

She didn't haggle over a decision. Bethany showed interest from the start and all but made her decision easy.

She will major in sports marketing.

"They contacted me first and invited me down, scheduled me for an overnight to see if I liked the classes and the faculty," Mills said.

Stewart will receive a $12,000 scholarship to shoot at Union, an NAIA school located in Barbourville, Kentucky, in the southern section of the state, about 5 1/2 hours from Crooksville.

She liked the small campus size and small classes. She plans to pursue a major in the medical field.

"They contacted me and came to me, and that led me to the chance to go down there and visit," Stewart said. "That's when he offered me my scholarship. I decided to attend there because it's a great school, very small and personable. I get 1-on-1 with the teachers, and everyone around there knows each other."

Stewart has been ranked among the best shooters in the area, placing third in the Muskingum Valley League as a junior and eighth as a senior. She was fourth in a world competition as a junior.

"I'm ready to venture out and try new things," Stewart said. "It took forever to get where I am now, but I think there's only room for more growth."

sblackbu@gannett.com

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Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR