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The Paper photo by John Groth
Southmont senior Creasy Clauser (center) will attend and run at Rose-Hulman this fall. |
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Reprinted courtesy of:
The Paper of Montgomery County
www;thepaper24-7.com
By John Groth
Sports Editor
NEW MARKET – After her visit to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Creasy Clauser knew she’d found a perfect college home.
One
of Southmont High School’s most decorated runners, she could have gone
to NCAA Division I Purdue University, ran at the top collegiate level
and stayed a little closer to her family.
But in the end, it’s the small NCAA Division III school that won out.
It’s the atmosphere, the coaches and the realm of opportunities that stole her heart.
“I
fell in love with the school during a couple of visits. It’s kind of
perfect,” said Clauser, who won two Sagamore Athletic Conference girls
cross country titles and advanced to the Indiana High School Athletic
Association cross country semistate as an individual qualifier in three
of her four years. “I was tempted to pick the big Division-I Big Ten
school,” Clauser said. “Overall putting everything together, including
running, I think the small school is definitely the better choice.”
Clauser
will attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, located in Terre
Haute, Ind., and plans to major in Bio-Med. She’ll join former teammate
and Southmont graduate Melissa Rogers on the cross country team.
This
past season under second-year coach Matthew Cole, Rose-Hulman had two
individuals – senior Sue Nickol (56th-place) and Rogers (57th-place) –
finish in the top 60 in the NCAA Regionals.
Rose-Hulman also
finished fourth in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, with
Rogers taking the individual conference champion honors in the fall.
Clauser hopes to continue the Fighting Engineers’ and her success.
She
finished second in last year’s 800-meters at the IHSAA Girls State
Track and Field finals and is gunning for the top spot this year.
As for next season, she’s still not sure what she’d like to accomplish just yet.
“I’d definitely like to make it to Nationals,” Clauser said. “I don’t know how exactly everything works.”
She
plans on increasing her mileage totals this summer to prepare herself
for running at the collegiate level. Clauser ran 30 to 40 miles a week
over the summer last year. This year, she expects to go at least 40.
Southmont assistant track and field coach Lindsay Carlile said the Fighting Engineers should have a nice tandem next year.
“She
and Melissa should make a nice one-two punch and it will be a nice
advantage for Rose-[Hulman],” he said. “I hope their coach knows how
lucky they are now.”
Southmont girls cross country coach Cassandra Hicks agreed.
“[Creasy] will still be at the top and be a leader,” Hicks said.
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