HBI

Dalton Walker
dwalker@harrisburginfo.com

February 04. 2010 6:00AM

Like hundreds across the state and country, three Harrisburg seniors signed letters of intent to play at the next level.

Aleisha Oehlerking, Kiley Fink and Taylor Olson all signed to play college sports Wednesday at the high school in front of their family and friends. Wednesday was the first day a high school senior could sign a binding National Letter of Intent for college sports.

Oehlerking and Fink will play soccer, while Olson will continue a stellar high school track career at Augustana College. Oehlerking will join Olson at Augustana in Sioux Falls next fall. Fink will cross state lines to Marshall, Minn. and suit up for Southwest Minnesota State University.

“I’ve been playing soccer for about 13 years, and actually never originally really planned playing in college. I thought I’d be done in high school,” Fink said. “But I got the opportunity to play at Southwest and I’m really excited about that.”

Fink and Oehlerking led a strong Harrisburg soccer team to a second place finish in this year’s state tournament. Both were named Class A first team. The award was Oehlerking’s third straight.

“I’m really excited to play,” Oehlerking said. “It’s a great school, a great soccer program.”

Olson, a runner for most of his life, will join Augustana’s track team with hopes of earning a spot in the rotation right away.

“I joined track in seventh grade, to stay in shape to play football and I found out that I really liked it,” Olson said.

And about running at the next level against college talent?

“I’m really excited for the competition,” he said.